Improving Coastal Tsunami Defense in Southern Thailand
Tsunami prediction for disaster preparedness and response
- Location: Southern coast, Thailand
- Date: 2005 – 2007
- Client: CUEIM-INGV
- Project Type: Tsunami risk management
Keeping people and assets safe with tsunami forecasting and assessment
The need for tsunami preparedness and defense planning in Thailand came into stark relief in 2004 when the southern coastline was severely damaged by a tsunami in the Indian Ocean. Providing technical recovery assistance, the Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) retained Hydro Nova to engineer a package of mitigation and preparedness solutions to help protect the southern coast from future tsunamis.
Our disaster management engineers provided real-time tsunami forecasting, pre- tsunami risk assessment and environmental vulnerability analysis. Thanks to our efforts, Thailand today operates a more responsive tsunami early warning system and has put new evacuation and rescue plans on stand-by to keep people and assets safe when the next tsunami strikes.
Services Provided
Real-time tsunami forecasting
We built a tsunami early warning and forecasting tool that alerts on the early stages a tsunami formation and triggers the Early Warning System.
Pre-tsunami risk assessment
We simulated future tsunamis and assessed how Thailand’s coastal areas would be damaged. Our vulnerability maps helped prepare rescue and evacuation plans.
Environmental damage assessment
We assessed the extent of environmental damage caused by the 2004 tsunami and estimated the impact of future tsunamis.
