PROBLEMS AND EFFECTS OF A TSUNAMI INUNDATION FORECAST SYSTEM DURING THE 2011 TOHOKU EARTHQUAKE

Abstract

Before the occurrence of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, a tsunami inundation forecast system and a GPS buoy were installed in Tohoku. The huge tsunami generated by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake was observed with the GPS buoy, and the data were used to revise the tsunami warning. However, the tsunami inundation forecast system was not able to help in the evacuation. The tsunami inundation forecast system was a system that displayed an inundation forecast map corresponding to the tsunami height observed in the GPS buoy in real-time. We thought that the damage would have been mitigated if the information from these systems were used for evacuation. Especially, the tsunami reached Sendai around 36 minutes after the tsunami was observed in the Kesennuma-oki GPS buoy. We thought that damage might have been mitigated if the information was conveyed during these 36 minutes. The 2011 Tohoku earthquake was generated in Tohoku where such a system was constructed. Therefore we thought that we must report the process of constructing these systems, the effects of the systems and the problems encountered.