The Shiogama coast, in Japan, as a tsunami warning had been issued after a huge earthquake
Asahi Shimbun via getty images
Millions of people were evacuated safely due to the warnings of tsunami quickly delivered after a powerful earthquake scraped off the coast of the Russian Kamchatka peninsula on July 29. Although the earthquake has not ended up generating waves as important as expected, the speed and scale of warnings show that the science of tsunami has achieved since major tsunamis in 2004 and 2011 killed tens of thousands of people.
“I think it is a great success based on the lessons learned from the past,” said Ravira Jayaratne at the University of East London, in the United Kingdom.
Improved warnings are largely thanks to an extended network of sensors monitoring the dangers of tsunami. These include seismometers that measure sea tremors generated by earthquakes, as well as a network of buoys operated by the American national ocean and atmospheric administration which measures the height of the waves and quickly relays information to satellites. The progress of modeling now allows researchers to Tsunami’s warning offices to use this information to quickly project where and when the waves reach the shore and emit alerts.
On July 29, this system allowed the offices of Tsunami around the Pacific to issue warnings almost immediately after the 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Russia, one of the strongest ever recorded. In neighboring Japan, nearly two million people have been evacuated from coastal areas. Others have been evacuated to Hawaii, states on the American West Coast and in the South than Chile.
“The reaction was immediate and it was good,” said David Tappin to the British Geological Survey. However, he underlines despite the extent of the earthquake, he ultimately did not generate very large waves or floods. This suggests that there is still room for improvement to predict the floods more precisely according to the early detections of tremors and the height of the waves, he says.
Jayaratne adds certain parts of the world vulnerable to tsunamis, such as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, still lack adequate warning systems and sufficient awareness of the public of dangers. “The past shows that high-tech detection tools are only effective when associated with strong public communication and evacuation planning,” he said. “Coastal areas must perform simulated exercises, maintain public awareness and ensure that alerts reach the most vulnerable via several channels.”
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