Tsunami flood modelling for Aceh & west Sumatra and its application for an early warning system

SummaryFor implementation of a regional Tsunami Early Warning System (EWS) in Sumatra island in Indonesia, a set of detailed and accurate tsunami propagation and flooding models using Delft3D were developed. The purpose of the models was not only to reproduce the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, but also to determine tsunami flood hazard maps with different return periods. The model outputs have then been used to build a tsunami flooding database covering 1250 hypothetical sources for different earthquake parameters along the Sunda Trench for an EWS called RiskMap. The model simulations produced detailed information of near-shore tsunami wave height, tsunami inundation length and run-up. Smart storage of computational results, in a geo-referenced database, allows quick access to the requisite information. The result is a system capable of issuing a warning within few minutes after a detection of an earthquake. The system has been successfully installed and tested in the last two years at national and regional emergency coordination centres, National Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG) and at Tsunami Disaster Mitigation Research Centre (TDMRC) in Banda Aceh.

► A simple TEWS for Indonesia based on a scenario database to issue a reliable tsunami warning within 5 s.
► Smart storage of pre-calculated tsunami scenarios to produce reliable detailed warning and inundation maps within seconds.
► Detailed hydrodynamic simulation models used to develop a database of potential tsunami along Sumatra.
► TEWS with spatial resolution upto 50 m can be used on low-end computing equipment to provide reliable warning within seconds