Dear Visitor,

Thank you very much for your visit to our site. We have renewed our simulation by comparing the tsunami amplitudes along the coasts with the measurements taken by us and other tsunami survey teams.  

The results of our new simulations are being reported in the following

 

In order to provide data for the tsunami survey teams and for reconnaissance studies, we have prepared a web site containing the results of our previous simulations two weeks after the Indian Ocean Tsunami. You can visit it by clicking the following link http://yalciner.ce.metu.edu.tr/sumatra/simulation/index.htm

Best wishes and kind regards.   Dr. Ahmet Cevdet Yalciner yalciner@metu.edu.tr

 

 

THE PDF FORM THE FOLLOWING REPORT IS DOWNLOADABLE FROM 

http://yalciner.ce.metu.edu.tr/sumatra/survey/simulation/simulation-report-version-1.pdf 

 

Simulation and Comparison with Field Survey Results of Dec., 26, 2004 Tsunami  

Ahmet C. Yalciner¹,  Efim N. Pelinovsky², Ugur Kuran³, Tuncay Taymaz⁴, Andrey Zaitsev⁵, Gülizar Ozyurt¹, Ceren Ozer¹, Hulya Karakus¹, Ilgar Safak¹

LAST UPDATED ON APRIL 23, 2005

 

¹ Middle East Technical University, Civil Engineering Department, Ocean Engineering Reserach Center, Ankara, Turkey  yalciner@metu.edu.tr

² Applied Mathematics Department, Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University , Nizhny Novgorod , Russia   enpeli@lmail.ru

³Geophysicist, Ministry of Construction and Resetlment, General Directorate of Disaster Affairs, Lodumlu, Ankara, Turkey e-mail: ugurkuran@ttnet.net.tr  

⁴ Prof.Dr.  Istanbul Technical University (ITU), the Faculty of Mines, Department of Geophysics-Seismology Section, Maslak-TR-34390, Istanbul Turkey e-mail: taymaz@itu.edu.tr

 

⁵ Laboratory of Hydrophysics and Nonlinear Acoustics, Institute of Applied Physics , Nizhny Novgorod , Russia , azaytsev@mail.ru

 

INDONESIA / NICOBAR / ANDAMAN / SUMATRA EARTHQUAKE AND INDIAN OCEAN TSUNAMI  ON DECEMBER 26, 2004

 

The devastating megathrust Indonesia/Nicobar/Andaman/Sumatra Earthquake of December 26, 2004, occured on   Sunday, December 26, 2004 at 00:58:53 GMT (7:58:53 AM local time at epicenter)  with  Mw=9.0 NEIC Epicenter Latitude 3.32 North, Longitude 95.85 East (USGS) or 3.09N, 94.26E southwest Banda Aceh in Northern Sumatra (Borrero, 2005). The earhquake occurred on the interface of the India and Burma plates and was caused by the release of stresses that develop as the India plate subducts beneath the overriding Burma plate.

The earthquake has also triggered giant tsunami and the tsunami waves that propagated throughout the Indian Ocean and have caused extreme inundation and extensive damage, loss of property and life along the coasts of 12 surrounding counties in the Indian Ocean . The loss of lives has also been extended to the people from totally 27 countries from other parts of the world.

The tsunami waves have arrived North of Sumatra in half an hour. The waves have arrived Thailand and Sri Lanka , India and Maldives within hours and also arrived Somalia Africa some hours later. The total number of death toll list the (AFP, 2005) shows that this tsunami is the  most destructive tsunamis experienced in human life from antiquity. This exceptional character, has also showed that, the shaking of earthquake has not only triggered a tsunami and cause damages and loss of lives but also shaked the psychology, social, scientific  and political considerations, understanding of hazards and priorities of mitigation measures.

Understanding of Indian Ocean Tsunami will provide us very valuable experience, knowledge and sense to develop better defense of humanity against natural hazards.  In the following the simulation of Indian Ocean Tsunami is presented and the results are also compared with the survey results. 

SIMULATION   

The generation, propagation and coastal amplification of tsunami waves are modeled using TUNAMI N2 software. TUNAMI was authored by Prof. Fumihiko Imamura in Tohoku University Japan, and developed in Middle East Technical University-Ankara by Ahmet Cevdet Yalciner under support of TÜBİTAK and by collaboration with Prof. Costas Synolakis in University of Southern California, USA and finally licensed by Imamura-Yalciner-Synolakis.

The initial wave for simulation has been computed by the fault data given in Table 1. The sea state at 5, 30, 120, 240, 300, 420  minutes in Indian Ocean are presented in Figure 1.  The computed maximum water surface elevations reached at each grid point and travel time curves during propagation of tsunami in Indian Ocean is also presented in Figure 2. The sea state at different time steps of Indian Ocean Tsunami are also shown in Figure 3 as a different style.

 

 

Table 1: The fault data used to compute the tsunami source for simulation

Epicenter Eastern Coordinate	94.26o N	Dip Angle	8 o
Epicenter Northern Coordinate	03.09 o  E	Slip Angle	110 o
Fault Length	446km.	Displacement	40
Fault Wİdth	170km.	Focal Depth	25km
Stirke Angle	329 o	Maximum +ve Amplitude at Tsunami Source	+ 13.7m
		Maximum -ve Amplitude at Tsunami Source	-   8.6m

 

Tsunami has directly attacked towards north west coast of Sumatra Island from 25 km south of Meulaboh to north tip of the island Banda Aceh. The inundation distance is observed as about 5 km and almost the same along the south and north coast of Meulaboh city. The wave propagated much more distances towards inland along the rivers’ beds. It was determined from eyewitness interviews that the tsunami waves have exceeded the height of coconut trees along Meulaboh coasts, and have inundated 5 kilometers towards land, and have totally destroyed the Port of Meulaboh and its surrounding area. It was also determined that the loss of life has reached 70 percent of the population in Tanom and Calang cities at the north of Meulaboh coasts

There are numerous tsunami surveys  performed in Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, India, Somalia, Kenya by Japanese, Indonesian, USA, Russian, Turkish, Greek, Italian Scientists. The survey results of measured runup values compiled from the available survey reports (see references) have been shown in Figures 4 and 5 together with the computed maximum surface elevations as for comparison.

 

 

 

Figure 1. The sea state at 5, 30, 120, 240, 300, 420 minutes in Indian Ocean

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 2:  The computed maximum water surface elevations reached at each grid point during 10 hours of simulation

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 3. The sea state at different time step of Indian Ocean  in different style

 

Figure 3. The Runup Distributions at North Sumatra Coats (Indonesia), Thailand Measured by Indonesian, Japanese, Russian, Turkish and USA Scientists and comparison with simulation. (Dark bars on histogram show survey results, light bars show simulation results)

 

 

 

Figure 4. The Runup Distributions at India, Sri Lanka, Maldives Measured by Indonesian, Japanese, Russian, Turkish and USA Scientists and comparison with simulation. (Dark bars on histogram show survey results, light bars show simulation results)

 

 

 

 

DISCUSSION

 

The Indian Ocean Tsunami is  the most destructive tsunami  experienced by humanity since antiquity. The nuımber of death tolls is around 300 000.

The earthquake triggered this tsunami has also shaked the psychology, social life, scientific considerations, understanding of hazards and priorities of mitigation measures, and political priorities. This event will remain as the most important item in the agenda of assessment of natural hazards in the long run.

In this report the general characteristics of North Sumatra Earthquake and Indian Ocean Tsunami is presented by simulation. The distribution of survey results are compiled and presented. They are also compared with simulation results. The reasonable agreement between survey and simulation results is obtained. The simulation considering tsunami triggering mechanism as only fault break, somewhat underestimates the maximum positive amplitude of the tsunami waves near Meulaboh and Banda Aceh coasts (northwest of Sumatra Island). This difference may remind that another source such as submarine landslide has occurred together or after the earthquake at offshore region of North West Sumatra island.

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

 

The participation of Turkish Team for this survey has been supported by UNESCO IOC (Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission). During all stages of the survey, numerous national/international, governmental/nongovernmental organizations has provided technical and administrative supports. These organizations are, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of  Republic of Turkey, Indonesian Embassy in Ankara, Republic of Indonesian Government, Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Affairs of Republic of Indonesia, Governor of Simeulue Island Buphati Dr. Darmili, Indonesian Army, Headquarters of Indonesian Army in Meulaboh, Headquarters of UN and UNESCO in Meulaboh, Singapore Air Force. The supports from Turkish Chamber of Civil Engineers, Turkish Chamber of Geological Engineers, YP Insaat Co., Yuksel Project Int. Co., Yuksel Insaat Co. CESAS A. S:, in Turkey are valuable to cover several needs and expenses for the research, investigations, modeling and reporting before, during and after the survey. Mavi Jeans, Lafarge are also acknowledged. The Russian survey team Victor Kaistrenko (leader) and Nadia Raszhivinia, Yuri, Nicholay Poloukhin  has participated and  contributed the survey in Simeulue island and Medan. Indonesian Colleagues Prof. Ir. Widi Agoes Pratikto, Dr. Ir. Subandono Dipsosaptono Dr. Eng. Dinar Catur Istiyanto, Ir. Widjo Kongko, M.Eng. are also acknowledged for their endless collaboration and technical supports.

 

REFERENCES

 

AFP, (2005), Death toll in Asian Tsunami Disaster

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/afp/20050305/wl_asia_afp/asiaquaketoll

 

Borrero, J. (2005), “Learning from Earthquakes,  The Great Sumatra Earthquake and Indian Ocean Tsunami December 26, 2005, Field Survey on Northern Sumatra”, Report#1 EERI, Special Earthquake Report, March 2005

 

Fritz H. And Synolakis C., (2005), http://www.gtsav.gatech.edu/cee/groups/tsunami/index.html

 

Gusiakov S., (2005) http://tsun.sscc.ru/tsulab/20041226.htm

 

Harada and Hiraishi et. al., (2005), 2004 Sumatran open sea earthquake tidal wave Phuket (Thai) field work” http://www.drs.dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/sumatra/thailand/phuket_survey.html

 

Kawata Y. et. al., (2005), “The December 26, 2004 Sumatra Earthquake Tsunami,
Tsunami Field Survey around Galle, Sri Lanka” http://www.drs.dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/sumatra/srilanka/galle_survey_e.html

 

Shibayama T. Et. al., (2005), “The December 26, 2004 Sumatra Earthquake Tsunami,
Tsunami Field Survey around Southern Part of Sri Lanka”, http://www.drs.dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/sumatra/SriLanka_survey_result/srilanka_survey_ynu_e.html

 

Synolakis C., and Borrero J., (2005) http://www.usc.edu/dept/tsunamis/2005/index.html

 

Taymaz, T., Tan O., Yolsal S., (2005), Sumatra Earthqake (Mw~9.0) of Deceber 26, 2004, Source Rupture Processes and Slip Distribution Modelling, Preliminary Rupture Model http://www.geop.itu.edu.tr/~taymaz/sumatra/

 

Tsuji Y., Namegaya Y. and Ito J., (2005), “Astronomical Tide Levels along the Coasts of the Indian Ocean ”, http://www.eri.u-tokyo.ac.jp/namegaya/sumatera/tide/index.htm

 

Tsuji Y. et. al., (2005),  “Distribution of the Tsunami Heights of the 2004 Sumatera Tsunami in Banda Aceh measured by the Tsunami Survey Team (The Head: Dr. Tsuji)”, http://www.eri.u-tokyo.ac.jp/namegaya/sumatera/surveylog/eindex.htm  

 

Gusiakov  et. al. Report of Field Survey in Sumatra Island  http://tsun.sscc.ru/tsulab/20041226.htm

 

Yeh K.. (2005), “Learning from Earthquakes,  The Great Sumatra Earthquake and Indian Ocean Tsunami December 26, 2005 Tsunami Survey along the Southeast Indian Coast.”, Report#2 EERI, Special Earthquake Report, March 2005