2024 EERI Annual Meeting (2024AM)

Tsunamis

Tsunamis are one of the most significant hazards facing coastal communities across the West Coast of the U.S.  Whether from near-shore events, like the Cascadia subduction zone, or from “far-field”  earthquakes in Alaska, Japan, or Chile.  Compounding the problem of inundation from these dangerous waves is that land-level change (subsidence) in the immediate aftermath of earthquakes can be of the order of meters, and rising sea-levels make the likelihood of dangerous and damaging inundation higher with every passing year.  With these risks, it is imperative that an open dialogue about potential adaptation strategies be facilitated with the ultimate goal of developing a comprehensive tsunami resilience plan that fully accounts for the complications introduced by Sea Leve Rise (SLR) and Land Level Change (LLC).  Some of the questions that will be considered in this session are:

• How are coastal communities being affected by the impacts of LLC, SLR, and tsunamis?
• How do the various groups view the risks of these hazards and what are the constraints to advancing resilience?
• What strategies are included as part of planning, preparedness, and adaptation to anticipate or help reduce the impacts of these hazards or to build resilience?
• What strategies do the communities consider critical to have in place to reduce the impacts of these hazards including how have they coped in the past to them
• What are other critical challenges to businesses?

The session will include brief presentations by invited speakers and a panel discussion.