Program uses Singapore Time and is 8 hours ahead of GMT

Special Session 02 Wed-03 Aug 18:00 – 20:00

Comprehensive Interdisciplinary Study on the 2022 Tonga Submarine Volcanic Eruption and Associated Tsunami: A Special Research Project Supported by Mext, Japan

The tsunami caused by the Tonga submarine volcanic eruption that occurred at around 13:00 Japan Time (JST) on January 15, 2022, was a blind spot in Japan’s tsunami monitoring and warning system, which was established in 1952 for local tsunamis and expanded to distant tsunamis after the 1960 Chile tsunami. The sea waves arrived in Japan few hours earlier than expected by the current tsunami warning system of JMA. Tsunami warnings were issued in some areas in Japan and tsunami advisories were issued along the Pacific coast of Japan. There were no casualties in Japan, but the issues that emerged included difficulty evacuation and damage to fishery industries were reported and remained as future tasks. The Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) pointed out importance of this disaster and established a special research grant to support interdisciplinary researches related to this disaster and its impact. The research has 24 members from 18 universities and research institutes all over Japan which receive supports until March 2023. This invited talk will present the current progress, findings and remaining perspectives on four main research themes 1) Investigation of the volcanic eruption phenomenon, 2) Investigation of tsunami generation and propagation mechanism on a global scale due to volcanic atmospheric waves, 3) Investigation and survey of the impact of the Tonga eruptive tsunami on the coastal areas of Japan and 4) Social aspects survey on social impact in Japan causing by the tsunami.

Dr. Anawat Suppasri obtained a PhD in Tsunami Engineering from Tohoku University in 2010. After which, he received a research grant to continue his research of tsunami risk assessment in Tohoku University. After the 2011 Tohoku tsunami, Tohoku University established the International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS) in April 2012. He became an Associate Professor at Tohoku University since then. After the 2011 Tohoku tsunami, he helped local governments for their reconstruction plans and shared lessons of the 2011 disaster to many officers and researchers from both Japan and overseas while guiding them in the 2011 tsunami affected areas. He is an editorial board member of AOGS`s publication “Geoscience Letters”, Coastal Engineering Journal and International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. He is supporting disaster risk reduction activities of the UN`s related organizations such as UNDRR, UNDP and UNITAR. His research and activity focus on tsunami numerical simulation, tsunami warning, tsunami fragility analysis, tsunami evacuation, cascading impacts of disasters and disaster mitigation education. His research publications received awards from Japan Society of Civil Engineers in 2011, 2014 and 2017, Japan Foundation of Ocean Engineering in 2011 and Japan Society for Natural Disaster Science in 2013. His international contribution was highly recognized and awarded by the former Japanese prime minister Yasuhiro Nakasone in 2018.