A spatial analysis of the December 26th, 2004 tsunami-induced damages: Lessons learned for a better risk assessment integrating buildings vulnerability

The December 26th tsunami of 2004 caused an unprecedented disaster in the Indian Ocean. In Sumatra, a third of the Banda Aceh area was destroyed and 70,000 people died. The Tsunarisque Program – a French–Indonesian research project – brings new considerations to tsunami dynamics and damage intensity...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied geography (Sevenoaks) 2011, Vol.31 (1), p.363-375
Main Authors: Leone, Frédéric, Lavigne, Franck, Paris, Raphaël, Denain, Jean-Charles, Vinet, Freddy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Buildings
Damage
Disasters
Dynamic tests
Earth Sciences
Fragility curves
Geographic information systems
Geomorphology
GIS
Indonesia
Research projects
Sciences of the Universe
Tsunami
Tsunamis
Urban areas
Vulnerability
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The December 26th tsunami of 2004 caused an unprecedented disaster in the Indian Ocean. In Sumatra, a third of the Banda Aceh area was destroyed and 70,000 people died. The Tsunarisque Program – a French–Indonesian research project – brings new considerations to tsunami dynamics and damage intensity in this urban area: An original method of damage spatial analysis is based on field surveys, photo interpretations and GIS. The first result is a very accurate cartography of the tsunami breaking zone that is shown by a steep drop in the damaging gradient around 2.7 km from the coast. The second is a new “macro-tsunamic” intensity scale based on special typologies of buildings and damages. This analysis is complemented by fragility curves that give the statistical relationships between mean damage intensities and wave heights. These results will allow developing application in tsunami potential losses modelling. ► Damage analysis makes it possible to reconstruct spatial components of this tsunami. ► Damages interpolation confirms a tsunami breaking zone 2.7 km inland. ► Fragility curves make it possible to estimate the cost of direct losses related to the buildings damages. ► Buildings and damage typologies can be used for other tsunamis in order to apply the same method.
ISSN:0143-6228
1873-7730
DOI:10.1016/j.apgeog.2010.07.009