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Tsunami Hazard Assessment Project

Tuesday, 23 April 2013 09:54 Molly Powers-Tora
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The Tsunami Hazard Assessment Project is funded by Australian Aid's Pacific Public Sector Linkages Programme (PPSLP), and represents a collaborative effort between Geoscience Australia and Ocean and Islands Programme (OIP) to build regional tsunami modelling capacity. This is the 3rd Phase of a multi-year programme and is implemented collaboratively between OIP, the Disaster Risk Programme of the SPC SOPAC Division (DRP) and Geoscience Australia.

The first phase of the Tsunami Hazard Assessment Project began in 2007 with a review of available baseline information to support tsunami inundation and risk modelling in Pacific Islands. Phase II followed and concentrated on building OIP's in-house technical capacity in modelling and in the use of specialist software platforms. Phase I and II also saw the development by Geoscience Australia (GA) of regional propagation models which are used to assess the likely threat across the region to a range of known tsunami sources, again across the entire region. Phase II also facilitated the development of detailed tsunami inundation modelling for several locations.

Phase III is concentrated on the development of an improved inundation model and other disaster risk management products for Nukualofa, Tonga. Field work was undertaken and completed successfully in March/April 2011 including a 40 day multi-beam survey in the northern Tongatapu Island and a shallow water LiDAR bathymetric survey. Outer slopes and intensive RTK topographic survey of the Nukualofa environments was also conducted. These data sets have been integrated into a seamless bathymetric model of Tongatapu to support improved calibration and confidence of the proposed inundation modelling work. In 2013, these models and reports were shared with the Tongan government in a series of meetings to support Disaster Risk Reduction planning.

For more information, contact:

Herve Damlamian
Coastal Numerial Modeller
Last Updated on Wednesday, 05 June 2013 15:18  

Newsflash

Tuesday 15 November, 2011 – Opening Address by Dr Russell Howorth – Director of the SOPAC Division, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC)

Colleagues, may I start by first welcoming you all to the Second Annual Partners Meeting for the Supporting Disaster Risk Reduction in the Pacific Project for the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) and funded by the EU from the 9th European Development Fund.

You will of course all be aware that this Project is benefitting from the outcome of the Regional Institutional Reform process (otherwise known as the RIF process) which has resulted in SOPAC the Commission becoming SOPAC the Applied Geoscience and Technology Division of the SPC from January 1st of this year.