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| Titel |
The Samoa tsunami of 29 September 2009: Field survey in Samoa and preliminary modeling |
| VerfasserIn |
J. C. Borrero, H. M. Fritz, C. E. Synolakis, R. Weiss, E. A. Okal |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2010
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 12 (2010) |
| Datensatznummer |
250037732
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| Zusammenfassung |
| The Samoa tsunami of 29 September 2009 caused considerable damage
and 146 deaths in the country of [ex-Western] Samoa, where the last
comparable event took place in 1917.
Following the event, an International Tsunami
Survey Team was deployed and surveyed the inundation one week after
the tsunami. Our results revealed higher values of run-up and inundation on
the Southern shore of Upolu, where run-up reached 14.5 m at Lepa and
11.4 m at Lalomanu, this latter village being eradicated, with a death toll
of 61. By contrast, the Northern shore was largely spared. A similar
pattern was observed on the island of Savaii, but with lower run-up
values, and only 2 deaths. The higher death toll in Samoa, as compared
to American Samoa probably results from the combination of terrain morphology
(wider coastal plains leading to longer evacuation distances),
the absence of a signage project, and an unfortunate reliance on
motor vehicles leading to entrapment of victims along roads often
parallel to the beach.
A number of numerical simulations were conducted using several models of
the seismic source; they correctly predict a concentration of tsunami
energy at the Southeastern corner of the island of Upolu, but also
at its Southwestern end, where surveyed run-up did not exceed 5 m.
All models correctly indicate that the northern coast, with the capital
Apia, is spared by the tsunami, even though it had reportedly
been emphasized during mitigation exercises prior to the event. |
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