TSUNAMI FLOODING

A tsunami is a train of water waves generated by impulsive disturbances of the water surface due to non-meteorological but geophysical phenomena such as submarine earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, submarine slumps and landslides or ice falls into a body of water. The severity of the waves at the nuclear power plant will depend on the characteristics of the seabed movement, the location of the plant (whether it is near a fjord or bay) and the direction of movement with respect to the plant, and the response of the near shore waters to the tsunami waves. Depending on its location, the site might be subjected to damaging waves. 

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Tsunami Flooding, erosion, loss of plant and animal life... 

An obvious major shortcoming of Thailand s disaster management system was the absence of an accurate tsunami early warning system monitoring the Indian Ocean. (Bird and Lubkowski, 2005) A Pacific Tsunami Warning System did exist, of which Thailand was and is a member state. Although Thai officials were duly notified by the warning system s staff that an earthquake had occurred, this information was not transmitted adequately to local authorities - for fear that it would harm tourism As a consequence, an evacuation alarm was not sounded, and the tsunami floods entered surprised and unprepared communities. Loss of livelihood may have been unavoidable even if the information had been transmitted optimally, but the death toll would have certainly been lower. (Wilcox and Horwitz 2005 UNEP 2005 Weisman, 2005). 

Vulnerability of critical infrastructures to extreme events have made headlines worldwide in the past decades due to structural failures, loss of life, and financial damages due to earthquakes, hurricanes, storm surge and waves, tsunamis, flooding and scour, vessel collisions, and terrorist attacks. For major bridge structures, the risk and magnitude of such extreme events is often the controlling load case for the structure design. 

Other Safety Guides relating to site evaluation present discussion on flood related events — for earthquake induced tsunamis, flood induced effects on foundations, procedures for the site survey, and precipitation and cyclonic wind hazard — and are thus complementary to this Safety Guide [2-4]. 

Natural events, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, etc. 

Natural disasters can be categorized as acute or slow in their onset (Noji, 1996). They are predictable because they cluster in geographic areas. Natural hazards are unpreventable and, for the most part, uncontrollable. Even if quick recovery occurs, natural disasters can have long-term effects. Natural disasters with acute onsets include events such as avalanche blizzard or extreme cold earthquake fire flood heat wave hurricane, cyclone, or typhoon tornado tsunami or storm surge volcanic eruption and wildfire. Natural hazards with a slow or gradual onset include deforestation, desertification, drought, and pest infestation. The most important natural disasters and examples of their environmental effects are listed in Table 17.1. 

Global statistics show that floods are the most frequently recorded destructive events, accounting for about 30% of the world s disasters each year. The frequency of floods is increasing faster than any type of disaster. Much of this rise in incidence can be attributed to uncontrolled urbanization, deforestation, and the effects of El Nino. Floods may also accompany other natural disasters, such as sea surges during hurricanes and tsunamis following earthquakes (FEMA, 2006d). 

The floods that accompany a tsunami result in potential health risks from contaminated water and food supplies. Loss of shelter leaves people vulnerable to exposure to insects, heat, and other environmental hazards. Further, the lack of medical care may result in exacerbations of chronic disease. Tsunamis have long-lasting effects and recovery necessitates long-term surveillance of infectious and water- or insect-transmitted diseases, an infusion of medical supplies and medical personnel, and the provision of mental health and social support services. 

Recent publication of world fire statistics reveals that costs of fires currently runs around 1% of GDP in most advanced countries. Deaths and losses in the United States tend to be the most extreme with annual losses of lObn/year [224], The annual review performed by Munich Re of world disaster losses reveals that world-wide forest fire losses alone exceeded 5.5bn and insured losses exceeded 2.5bn during 2003. Such losses exceed the sum of all losses from volcanic eruptions, hailstones, flash floods, Tsunamis, landslides, avalanches, water drainage, frost, and local and winter storms combined (Of course the Baran earthquake, the European heat wave, floods, and severe and tropical storms individually exceeded forest fire losses, Munich Re [437],... 

Real-Time Expert System (RTXPS) is a system designed for on-site dynamic emergency management in the case of technological and environmental hazards, including early warning for events such as toxic or oil spills, floods, and tsunamis. 

Now comes the earthquake it knocks out electrical power. Hence all three of the operating pumps fail due to the first common cause Electrical Power Failure caused by the earthquake. This is bad, but the backup pumps, which together have a probability of failure of 1 in a 1000, can be trusted to work since they have their own, independent source of power (diesel). But, 40 minutes later, the tsunami disables the backup pumps due to a second common cause sea water flooding. The reactor core continues to generate substantial amounts of heat, but there are no means of removing that heat. 

Bituminous Demonstration plant completed in 2007, flooded during 2011 tsunami, Mitsubishi Heavy industries (MHI) gasifier. M701G gas turbine and overall plant efficiency of 42% without CCS for the demonstration plant... 

Disaster—Any natural catastrophe including any hurricane, tornado, storm, high water, wind-driven water, tidal wave, tsunami, earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, mudslide, snowstorm, and drought or, regardless of cause, any fire, flood, or explosion. 

The hazards due to seismicity include the possibility of a structure being severed by fault displacement but a much more likely event is damage due to shaking (Fig. 8.4). The destruction wrought by an earthquake depends on many factors. Of prime importance are the magnitude of the event, its duration and the response of buildings and other elements of the infrastructure. In addition, other hazards such as landslides, floods, subsidence, tsunamis and secondary earthquakes may be triggered by a seismic event (Khazai and Sitar, 2004),... 

Figure 3. The Oprichnik Bay, settl. Kamenka. Tsunami-hazardous beach of more 30 m in width the first marine terrace of more than 700 m in width. In the flood zone by tsunami waves was the entire village, including more than 100 single-story and three-story buildings.

Figure 4. The petroleum storage, flooded by tsunami waves in the Plastun Bay of the Rynda Gulf...

Figure 5. The Moryak-Rybolov Bay. A part of the settlement flooded by tsunami waves.

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