Just hours after the tsunami struck, URI scientists and engineers collected data and ran simulations, while resource managers and marine policy experts assessed social and economic damages.
Left to right: Professors Kate Moran, Stephan Grilli, and CRC Director, Stephen Olsen
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This mosaic of photographs show a 3 meter high x 8 meter wide section of compacted sediment, only a small part of a huge cliff that was faulted and upthrust during the enormous earthquake and which undoubtedly contributed to the creation of the tsunami. |
Ocean engineering professor Stephan Grilli had just landed in Belgium on his way to teach a two-day tsunami course in Germany when he turned on the radio and listened in disbelief to early reports of the devastation caused by the Indian Ocean tsunami. By the time he checked his email, the tsunami expert had already received dozens of messages from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii and from colleagues in the tsunami research community.
Brian Crawford ‘78, associate manager of the URI Coastal Resources Center, was on vacation in the Philippines when the tsunami hit. As soon as he heard, he tried to contact friends and colleagues in the affected areas. He and other CRC staff have spent years working with officials in Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Indonesia creating plans for sustainable coastal development. He immediately suspected that he’d soon be returning to those countries.
Just hours after the tsunami struck last December, URI oceanographers, seismologists, and ocean engineers collected data and ran simulations, while University resource managers and marine policy experts considered what the devastation would mean for natural resources and coastal redevelopment in the region.
“Half a world away, the University is playing a leading role in understanding what caused the massive tsunami and how to rebuild in its aftermath,” said URI President Robert L. Carothers. “It’s just one illustration of the incredible depth and breadth of the marine and coastal research and outreach conducted by the URI community around the globe.”
Within two weeks, Grilli was asked to lead the first international research expedition to explore the seabed where the earthquake that triggered the tsunami occurred. He called on oceanography and ocean engineering Professor Kate Moran to be chief scientist, since she has extensive experience leading major research expeditions. Included among the team of scientists recruited for the April 2005 cruise were URI seismologist Yang Shen, ocean engineer Chris Baxter, and two dozen other researchers from five countries, as well as a film crew producing a documentary for BBC television and the Discovery Channel.
“We went to the area offshore Sumatra to map the seafloor so we could reconstruct the movement that caused the tsunami,” Moran said. “Tsunami waves are exactly linked to movement of the seafloor from earthquakes and underwater landslides.”
By combining the expertise of a multidisciplinary team of biologists, seismologists, geologists, tsunami modelers, and others all on one research vessel, the scientists were able to reconstruct the tsunami faster and easier than ever before.
“What was most surprising to the team was that at the center of the fault area, where it was predicted there would have been movement of the seafloor, we found none. Zero. It was absolutely undisturbed,” said Moran.
According to Grilli, the expedition raised as many questions as it answered. For example, he said the sheer size of the rupture in the seafloor was unexpected. “And there were both slow ruptures and fast ruptures, but how they affected the tsunami is unclear.”
After mapping seven target areas within the 240,000 square kilometer epicenter region, data was fed into Grilli’s tsunami model.
“When the output of Stephan’s model matched the height and timing of the actual waves observed at various places around the Indian Ocean, we knew we had it right,” Moran added. “The data we collected will make the model better, which will help predict future tsunamis so plans can be made to reduce their potential damage.”
In the communities devastated by the tsunami, the first order of business was relief efforts to aid the survivors. But by February, the United Nations Environment Program and the U.S. Agency for International Development were beginning to think about how best to re-establish livelihoods, rebuild infrastructure, and protect coastal resources from future devastation. For that, they turned to URI’s Coastal Resources Center.
Formed in 1971, the center promotes coastal stewardship worldwide by advocating a sustainable balance of conservation and economic development. The center had only recently completed a project in Indonesia when the tsunami hit.
In mid-February, CRC Director Stephen Olsen was asked by officials at the UN Environment Program to develop a set of principles to guide rebuilding efforts in the areas hit by the tsunami. These included concepts like respect for powerful natural forces and reduction of exposure to natural hazards, both of which hint at the need to refrain from rebuilding too close to coastlines. Olsen’s principles also recommended diversifying livelihoods and discouraged rebuilding the region’s fishing industry to its pre-tsunami size, since it was already reducing fish populations to unsustainable levels.
That same month, USAID asked the Coastal Resources Center to create a demonstration project rebuilding and restoring sustainable livelihoods. The day after an agreement was signed in March, Crawford and CRC Associate Manager Jim Tobey left for Thailand.
“We selected five coastal villages in a rural environment where settlements had been wiped out, and we talked with village leaders, other stakeholders, and national agencies to assess and prioritize their needs,” Crawford said.
In addition to rebuilding selected infrastructure and developing mitigation and disaster preparedness plans, Crawford said the 30-month project is helping the villages restart their fisheries industries with a focus on sustainable aquaculture and fishing practices. They have also created a revolving fund to provide start-up loans and business training for those interested in rebuilding or starting small businesses. And they’re providing interim employment for those willing to replant mangroves and clear debris. Each project will be documented so it can be replicated in other places within the region.
“What we’re implementing is a holistic package of activities designed to rehabilitate communities and get people back on their feet,” explained Crawford. “We’re looking at a two- to three-year effort, because rebuilding after destruction of this magnitude doesn’t happen in just a couple of months.”
“I’ve been studying tsunamis for years, but I had never been to the site of a recent tsunami,” concluded Grilli. “Seeing the destruction and talking to survivors gives you a totally new perspective. It was a very sobering and humbling experience.”
By Todd McLeishPhoto by Nora Lewis
