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Review
. 2009;85(8):267-75.
doi: 10.2183/pjab.85.267.

A short history of tsunami research and countermeasures in Japan

Nobuo Shuto  1 , Koji Fujima
Affiliations
Review

A short history of tsunami research and countermeasures in Japan

Nobuo Shuto et al. Proc Jpn Acad Ser B Phys Biol Sci. 2009.

Abstract

The tsunami science and engineering began in Japan, the country the most frequently hit by local and distant tsunamis. The gate to the tsunami science was opened in 1896 by a giant local tsunami of the highest run-up height of 38 m that claimed 22,000 lives. The crucial key was a tide record to conclude that this tsunami was generated by a "tsunami earthquake". In 1933, the same area was hit again by another giant tsunami. A total system of tsunami disaster mitigation including 10 "hard" and "soft" countermeasures was proposed. Relocation of dwelling houses to high ground was the major countermeasures. The tsunami forecasting began in 1941. In 1960, the Chilean Tsunami damaged the whole Japanese Pacific coast. The height of this tsunami was 5-6 m at most. The countermeasures were the construction of structures including the tsunami breakwater which was the first one in the world. Since the late 1970s, tsunami numerical simulation was developed in Japan and refined to become the UNESCO standard scheme that was transformed to 22 different countries. In 1983, photos and videos of a tsunami in the Japan Sea revealed many faces of tsunami such as soliton fission and edge bores. The 1993 tsunami devastated a town protected by seawalls 4.5 m high. This experience introduced again the idea of comprehensive countermeasures, consisted of defense structure, tsunami-resistant town development and evacuation based on warning.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Relative run-up height at the bottom of a bay in Sanriku region; T0 = period of natural oscillation of a bay, ηx1 = maximum run-up height at the bottom of a bay, ηx2 = maximum run-up height at the mouth of a bay (From Watanabe).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The tide gage records of the 1983 Japan Sea Earthquake Tsunami (solid line) and the corrected waveforms for the tide gage response (dotted line) (From Satake et al.).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Initial tsunami profiles obtained by Tanaka et al. and by Aida.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Council on Earthquake Disaster Prevention, Ministry of Education (1933) Note on Prevention against Tsunamis. pp. 1–14(in Japanese).
    1. Kajiura, K. (1970) Tsunami source, energy and directivity of wave radiation. Bull. Earthquake Research Institute 48, 835–869
    1. Imamura, F., Nagano, O., Goto, C. and Shuto, N. (1987) Numerical simulation of transoceanic propagation of 1960 Chilean tsunami. Proc. 34th Japanese Conf. Coastal Eng. 34, 172–176(in Japanese).
    1. Watanabe, H. (1998) Comprehensive list of tsunamis to hit the Japanese Islands, University of Tokyo Press, Tokyo, pp. 1–236(in Japanese).
    1. Mansinha, L. and Smylie, D.E. (1971) The displacement of the earthquake fault model. Bull. Seismol. Soc. Amer. 61, 1433–1400