Tsunami and Earthquake Warning Systems

Abstract

Warning systems can mitigate the damage caused by tsunamis and other natural events, and prevent the loss of human life and properties. Countermeasures, such as evacuations to higher ground and the stopping of trains, depend on getting the right information and disseminating it in a timely manner. Warning systems must also be aligned with community response. While Japan has developed the most sophisticated tsunami-warning system in the world, the system underestimated tsunami height on March 11 and may have misled the evacuees and increased human losses. Before March 11, 2011, Japan had already developed sophisticated high technology tsunami-warning systems that included satellite communications and hundreds of real-time monitoring stations. But on March 11 the community-level response (and community based warnings) was the key that saved countless human lives. Japan's Meteorological Agency (JMA) monitors seismic activity throughout Japan, around the clock. The agency can quickly calculate the hypocenter and magnitude of an earth quake, and issue a tsunami warning within three minutes after the earthquake. The information is immediately disseminated to the public by disaster management authorities, local governments, and the mass media. The JMA has recently invested some ¥2 billion in tsunami and earthquake monitoring and warning systems.