Runup and Inundation along the Indian Peninsula, Including the Andaman Islands, due to Great Indian Ocean Tsunami

Abstract

The December 2004 Sumatra earthquake triggered massive tsunami waves in the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal. The tsunami waves traveled primarily in the east-west direction and caused major damage along the coasts of southern India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Indonesia. It has proved to be the most disastrous tsunami in recorded history, and scientists and engineers around the world set out to record signatures of the tsunami from which the characteristics of the tsunami waves at the time of landfall could be deciphered. Such information is extremely useful in validating mathematical models for understanding the characteristics of tsunamis and their effects along the coast. The writers conducted surveys along the east and west coasts of peninsular India—focusing on the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala and around Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where the devastation caused by the tsunami was unparalleled. The analysis of data gathered during the post-sunami survey focused on consolidating the primary parameters of the tsunami arrival time, runup height, and the extent of inundation.