Tohoku University · Earth and Planetary Sciences
Professor Anawat Suppasri's research lab specializes in tsunami hazard assessment, focusing on post-disaster field surveys, tsunami fragility curve development, and the performance evaluation of coastal defense structures. The lab conducts detailed damage assessments using high-resolution satellite imagery and field-collected data to improve structural vulnerability modeling and tsunami risk mitigation strategies. Their work emphasizes empirical analysis of tsunami impacts on buildings and infrastructure, particularly in the context of major events such as the 2004 Indian Ocean and 2011 Great East Japan tsunamis.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
A large amount of buildings was damaged or destroyed by the 2011 Great East Japan tsunami. Numerous field surveys were conducted in order to collect the tsunami inundation extents and building damage data in the affected areas. Therefore, this event provides us with one of the most complete data set among tsunami events in history. In this study, fragility functions are derived using data provided by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation of Japan, with more than 250,000 structu
In 2011, Japan was hit by a tsunami that was generated by the greatest earthquake in its history. The first tsunami warning was announced 3 min after the earthquake, as is normal, but failed to estimate the actual tsunami height. Most of the structural countermeasures were not designed for the huge tsunami that was generated by the magnitude M = 9.0 earthquake; as a result, many were destroyed and did not stop the tsunami. These structures included breakwaters, seawalls, water gates, and control
Abstract. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami damaged and destroyed numerous buildings and houses in Thailand. Estimation of tsunami impact to buildings from this event and evaluation of the potential risks are important but still in progress. The tsunami fragility curve is a function used to estimate the structural fragility against tsunami hazards. This study was undertaken to develop fragility curves using visual inspection of high-resolution satellite images (IKONOS) taken before and after tsunami
On March 11th, 2011, the Pacific coast of Japan was hit by a tsunami generated by the largest earthquake (M9.0) in the history of the country and causing a wide range of devastating damage. Using preliminary reported data from many sources, some topics such as tsunami fatality ratio and tsunami fragility curves for structural damage are discussed and compared with other countries. This paper aims to discuss the damage characteristics of this tsunami as well as its mechanism, as observed through
Japan was hit by the tsunami generated by the greatest earthquake in the history of Japan. The authors conducted the post-tsunami field survey in Miyagi prefecture immediately after the event to measure the inundation depth and investigate damaged buildings. Most of the buildings surveyed were wooden houses and could be classified into 4 damage levels. The primary data of inundation depth and damage levels obtained from the field survey were used to create the tsunami fragility curves, which des
The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was one of the most devastating tsunamis in world history. The tsunami caused damage to most of the Asian and other countries bordering the Indian Ocean. After a decade, reconstruction has been completed with different levels of tsunami countermeasures in most areas; however, some land use planning using probabilistic tsunami hazard maps and vulnerabilities should be addressed to prepare for future tsunamis. Examples of early-stage reconstruction are herein provided
Abstract. Three weeks after the deadly Bohol earthquake of Mw 7.2, which claimed at least 222 victims, another disaster struck the Philippines. This time, Super Typhoon Haiyan, also known as Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines, devastated the Eastern Visayas islands on 8 November 2013. Its classification as a super typhoon was based on its maximum sustained 1 min surface wind speed of 315 km h−1, which is equivalent to a strong Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson scale. This was one of the
Although many studies have investigated relationships between tsunami characteristics and the impact on physical property and infrastructure, such information cannot explain how the damage to each object or type of infrastructure can trigger failures of other facilities. To understand these connections and the cascading impacts, this article reviewed several recent damaging tsunami events in Japan and Indonesia, including the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and
The 63,605 damaged buildings from the 2011 Tohoku‐oki tsunami in Ishinomaki were used to develop 52 fragility curves using linear regression. The data comprise the damage level and the measured inundation depth for each building. In agreement with previous studies, the present results indicate that reinforced concrete and steel buildings with three stories or more perform better under tsunami loading. Performance with respect to their intended function was found to depend mainly on structural ma
The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was one of the world’s worst tsunamis and caused devastating damage in many Asian countries. Then, in 2011, Japan was hit by a tsunami that was generated by the greatest earthquake in the country’s history. This paper discusses the damage caused by these tsunamis and subsequent reconstruction. Introduced first are the experience gained and lessons learned for future tsunami mitigation, such as tsunami awareness, proper evacuation building and the memorial parks crea
The 2016 Fukushima earthquake and tsunami presented several new issues of tsunami generation mechanism and propagation, as well as of organizational responses such as evacuation procedures and dissemination of tsunami warning. This study focuses on explanations to issues of public interest based on the experiences during the 2016 tsunami: (1) Despite Fukushima Prefecture's proximity to the earthquake's epicenter, why was the largest wave observed in the neighboring Miyagi Prefecture? (2) Why was
On 1st January 2024 an Mw7.5 earthquake occurred along an active fault across the Noto Peninsula. The tremors generated a wide range of cascading hazards, including geological uplift, liquefaction, landslides, fires and tsunamis. This study offers some preliminary observations on the impacts of the cascading hazards. It also describes the pattern of casualties and the experience of evacuees and the management of evacuation centers. The hazards caused damage to buildings and infrastructure and mo
Abstract. This research aimed to assess the tsunami flow velocity and height reduction produced by a planned elevated road parallel to the coast of Banda Aceh, called the Banda Aceh Outer Ring Road (BORR). The road will transect several lagoons, settlements, and bare land around the coast of Banda Aceh. Beside its main function to reduce traffic congestion in the city, the BORR is also proposed to reduce the impacts of future tsunamis. The Cornell Multi-grid Coupled Tsunami Model (COMCOT) was us
Numerical simulation of tsunami is an effective method to reproduce what has occurred in the past and to predict future events for many tsunami-related research issues including warning systems. However, some real phenomena have not been fully integrated into numerical simulations for transoceanic tsunamis such as fault dynamics of rupture velocity, ocean currents, and the initial sea level. Considering the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami event, this study evaluates the consequences of rupture velocit
Data for approximately 20,000 small marine vessels damaged by the 2011 Great East Japan tsunami, including information on motor types and tonnage, were collected and used to develop loss functions. The observed maximum tsunami heights from the field survey were used, and the maximum tsunami flow velocities from numerical simulation were obtained. Damage ratios were calculated, and loss functions were fit using linear regression analysis and log-normal distributions. The damage probability was si
Open papers in the app to read, cite, and organize with AI.