Tsunami Runup Survey along the Southeast Indian Coast

The 26 December Indian Ocean tsunami was an extraordinary event in the history of natural hazards. It severely affected many countries surrounding the Indian Ocean: Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and African countries. Unlike the previous tsunami events in the last 40 years, the seriously affected areas are so vast that a traditional ground-level tsunami survey covering all the necessary areas by a single survey team was impractical. This destructive event will undoubtedly provide many opportunities to explore both basic and applied research in tsunami science and engineering fields and will lead to better preparedness for future disasters. A tsunami runup survey was conducted that spans Vedaranniyam (10° 23.5′ N) to Vodarevu (15° 47.6′ N)—more than 600 km of the southeast Indian coast—which suffered from the distant tsunami, whose source was more than 1,500 km away.