Verification of Disaster Management Information on the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami Using Virtual Tsunami Warning System

Abstract

There is still no tsunami warning systemprotecting the shores of the Indian Ocean, but imagine that a tsunami warning system had been in operation at the time of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. What disaster management information would have been issued for this tsunami ? This paper first proposes four tsunamimodels based on the earthquake information issued by different institutions. Next, setting these tsunami models as the initial condition, tsunami simulations are conducted to find the height of the tsunami striking the coastline around the Indian Ocean. As a result, it is indicated that because the tsunami model immediately after occurrence of the 2004 Sumatra Earthquake and the Indian Ocean tsunami calculated from this model are underestimated, appropriate tsunami warnings would most probably not have been issued before the 2004 tsunami struck land.