This volume features contributions from the first Meeting of the Tsunami Commission after the big 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean. It presents consolidated findings based on hydrophone records, seismometer readings, and tide gauges. In addition, the volume provides reports of post-tsunami surveys and numerical simulations for tsunamis such as the 2004 Indian Ocean event. It also details tsunami dangers and early warning systems.

A unique interdisciplinary approach to disaster risk research, including global hazards and case-studies, for researchers, graduate students and professionals.

The Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004 is considered to have been one of the worst natural disasters in history, affecting twelve countries, from Indonesia to Somalia. 175,000 people are believed to have lost their lives, almost 50,000 were registered as missing and 1.7 million people were displaced. As well as this horrendous toll on human life

Many coastal areas of the United States are at risk for tsunamis. After the catastrophic 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, legislation was passed to expand U.S. tsunami warning capabilities. Since then, the nation has made progress in several related areas on both the federal and state levels. At the federal level, NOAA has improved the ability to detect and forecast tsunamis by expanding the sensor network. Other federal and state activities to increase tsunami safety include: improvements to tsunami hazard and evacuation maps for many coastal communities; vulnerability assessments of some coastal populations in several states; and new efforts to increase public awareness of the hazard and how to respond. Tsunami Warning and Preparedness explores the advances made in tsunami detection and preparedness, and identifies the challenges that still remain. The book describes areas of research and development that would improve tsunami education, preparation, and detection, especially with tsunamis that arrive less than an hour after the triggering event. It asserts that seamless coordination between the two Tsunami Warning Centers and clear communications to local officials and the public could create a timely and effective response to coastal communities facing a pending tsuanami. According to Tsunami Warning and Preparedness, minimizing future losses to the nation from tsunamis requires persistent progress across the broad spectrum of efforts including: risk assessment, public education, government coordination, detection and forecasting, and warning-center operations. The book also suggests designing effective interagency exercises, using professional emergency-management standards to prepare communities, and prioritizing funding based on tsunami risk.

A puzzling tsunami entered Japanese history in January 1700. Samurai, merchants, and villagers wrote of minor flooding and damage. Some noted having felt no earthquake; they wondered what had set off the waves but had no way of knowing that the tsunami was spawned during an earthquake along the coast of northwestern North America. This orphan tsunami would not be linked to its parent earthquake until the mid-twentieth century, through an extraordinary series of discoveries in both North America and Japan. The Orphan Tsunami of 1700, now in its second edition, tells this scientific detective story through its North American and Japanese clues. The story underpins many of today�s precautions against earthquake and tsunami hazards in the Cascadia region of northwestern North America. The Japanese tsunami of March 2011 called attention to these hazards as a mirror image of the transpacific waves of January 1700. Hear Brian Atwater on NPR with Renee Montagne http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4629401

Even a cursory glance at any map of the Asia-Pacific region makes a striking impression: in addition to the large continental landmass the region encompasses a truly vast expanse of ocean, dispersed over which are thousands of islands. Many might say that it could not be a worse time to live in this region. In the past few years we have experienced not only a number of devastating tsunamis (Indonesia, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Japan), but should not forget either the seemingly endless list of other natural hazards such as tropical cyclones and typhoons, volcanic eruptions, river floods and wildfires, amongst numerous others.

This book is a collective effort by world experts, bringing together assorted contributions presented during the Ocean Science Session OS-017, of the AOGS-AGU Joint Assembly held in Singapore in 2012 (the Asia Tsunami and Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami events). The chapters cover assessment, evaluation, forecast and lessons learned as well as environmental and societal impacts of the latest tsunamis that occurred in the Indian Ocean in 2004 and the Pacific Ocean in Japan 2011. The book is aimed at experts, scientists and decision makers seeking recent updated information, knowledge and experiences to better understand, quantify, forecast and protect coastal water resources, ecosystems, communities and human settlements which are often affected by tsunamis.