Dr. Aránguiz-Muñoz, Rafael

In 2015 and 2017 unusual ocean and atmospheric conditions produced many years’ worth of rainfall in short periods over Northern Chile’s Atacama Desert, resulting in catastrophic flooding in the town of Chañaral. However, the town is not only at risk of fluvial flooding, it is also at risk of tsunamis. Through a community mapping exercise, the authors attempted to establish the level of community awareness about tsunamis, and contrasted it with that of other types of water-related hazards facing the town (namely that of flooding due to high intensity rain). This was then compared with the results of field surveys and tsunami hazard simulations, indicating than overall the community appears to have better awareness than authorities about the threat posed by these types of events. The authors thus concluded that in cases when the community has a high level of hazard awareness (which in the case of Chile was the result of traditional knowledge being transmitted from previous generations) it would be advantageous to include them in discussions on how to improve disaster resilience.

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction emphasizes the need to rebuild better after a disaster to ensure that the at-risk communities can withstand a similar or stronger shock in the future. In the present work, the authors analyzed the reconstruction paths through a comparative analysis of the perspective of a community in Japan and another in Chile, and their respective local governments. While both countries are at risk to tsunamis, they follow different reconstruction philosophies. Data was gathered through key informant interviews of community members and local government officials, by adapting and modifying the Building Resilience to Adapt to Climate Extremes and Disasters (BRACED) 3As framework to a tsunami scenario. The 3As represent anticipatory, adaptive, and absorptive capacities as well as transformative capacities and respondents were asked to rate this according to their perspectives. It was found that while both communities perceive that much is to be done in recovery, Kirikiri has a more holistic and similar perspective of the recovery with their government officials as compared to Dichato. This shows that community reconstruction and recovery from a disaster requires a holistic participation and understanding.

On September 28, 2018, a large earthquake and its accompanying tsunami waves caused severe damage to the coastal area of Palu Bay, in the central western part of Sulawesi Island, Indonesia. To clarify the distribution of tsunami inundation and run-up heights, and damage to coastal communities due to the tsunami, the authors conducted a field survey 1 month after the event. In the inner part of Palu Bay tsunami inundation and run-up heights of more than 4 m were measured at many locations, and severe damage by the tsunami to coastal low-lying settlements was observed. In the areas to the north of the bay and around its entrance the tsunami inundation and run-up heights were lower than in the inner part of the bay. The tsunami inundation distance depended on the topographical features of coastal areas. The southern shore of the bay experienced a longer inundation distance than other shores, though generally severe damage to houses was limited to within around 200 m from the shoreline. The main lessons that can be learnt from the present event are also discussed.

Tsunami resonance and coupled oscillation of shelf and bays modes has been reported to beimportant in tsunami wave amplification. The main objective of this work is to study the spatial pattern ofnatural oscillation modes and to analyze the influence of several resonators on the coast of the centralChile, which has a complex morphology with several bays, submarine canyons, and a wide continentalshelf. First, natural oscillation modes were computed by means of modal analysis of local and regionaldomains. Second, a dense network of tide gauges and pressure sensors was analyzed to obtain backgroundspectra inside bays. Third, tsunami spectra were computed from both tsunami records and numericalsimulations. The results show that the use of modal analysis and background and tsunami spectra iseffective for identifying natural oscillation modes. In addition, a dense network of tide gauges is useful tovalidate the spatial pattern of these natural modes. It was observed that larger resonators and the shelf areimportant in coupling oscillation with local bays, such that large amplification can be observed. Finally,this analysis allowed the diverse effects of 2010 and 2011 tsunamis in the bays of central Chile to beexplained, making it possible to better address tsunami mitigation measures and the preparedness ofcoastal communities.

The variability in obtaining estimates of tsunami inundation and runup on a near‐real‐time tsunami hazard assessment setting is evaluated. To this end, 19 different source models of the Maule Earthquake were considered as if they represented the best available knowledge an early tsunami warning system could consider. Results show that large variability can be observed in both coseismic deformation and tsunami variables such as inundated area and maximum runup. This suggests that using single source model solutions might not be appropriate unless categorical thresholds are used. Nevertheless, the tsunami forecast obtained from aggregating all source models is in good agreement with observed quantities, suggesting that the development of seismic source inversion techniques in a Bayesian framework or generating stochastic finite fault models from a reference inversion solution could be a viable way of dealing with epistemic uncertainties in the framework of nearly‐real‐time tsunami hazard mapping.

The last earthquake that affected the city of Coquimbo took place in September 2015 and had a magnitude of Mw=8.3, resulting in localized damage in low-lying areas of the city. In addition, another seismic gap north of the 2015 earthquake rupture area has been identified; therefore, a significant earthquake (Mw=8.2 to 8.5) and tsunami could occur in the near future. The present paper develops a tsunami fragility curve for the city of Coquimbo based on field survey data and tsunami numerical simulations. The inundation depth of the 2015 Chile tsunami in Coquimbo was estimated by means of numerical simulation with the Non-hydrostatic Evolution of Ocean WAVEs (NEOWAVE) model and five nested grids with a maximum grid resolution of 10 m. The fragility curve exhibited behavior similar to that of other curves in flat areas in Japan, where little damage was observed at relatively high inundation depths. In addition, it was observed that Coquimbo experienced less damage than Dichato (Chile); in fact, at an inundation depth of 2 m, Dichato had a ∼75 % probability of damage, while Coquimbo proved to have only a 20 % probability. The new fragility curve was used to estimate the damage by possible future tsunamis in the area. The damage assessment showed that ∼50 % of the structures in the low-lying area of Coquimbo have a high probability of damage in the case of a tsunami generated off the coast of the study area if the city is rebuilt with the same types of structures.

This work presents the analysis of long waves resonance in two of the main cities along the northern coast of Chile, Arica, and Iquique, where a large tsunamigenic potential remains despite recent earthquakes. By combining a modal analysis solving the equation of free surface oscillations, with the analysis of background spectra derived from in situ measurements, the spatial and temporal structures of the modes are recovered. Comparison with spectra from three tsunamis of different characteristics shows that the modes found have been excited by past events. Moreover, the two locations show different response patterns. Arica is more sensitive to the characteristics of the tsunami source, whereas Iquique shows a smaller dependency and similar response for different tsunami events. Results are further compared with other methodologies with good agreement. These findings are relevant in characterizing the tsunami hazard in the area, and the methodology can be further extended to other regions along the Chilean coast.

A large earthquake and tsunami took place in February 2010, affecting a significant part of the Chilean coast (Maule earthquake, Mw of 8.8). Dichato (37° S), a small town located on Coliumo Bay, was one of the most devastated coastal areas and is currently under reconstruction. Therefore, the objective of this research is to analyze the risk factors that explain the disaster in 2010, as well as perceived restoration 6 years after the event. Numerical modeling of the 2010 Chile tsunami with four nested grids was applied to estimate the hazard. Physical, socioeconomic and educational dimensions of vulnerability were analyzed for pre- and post-disaster conditions. A perceived restoration study was performed to assess the effects of reconstruction on the community. It was focused on exploring the capacity of newly reconstructed neighborhoods to provide restorative experiences in case of disaster. The study was undertaken using the perceived restorativeness scale. The vulnerability variables that best explained the extent of the disaster were housing conditions, low household incomes and limited knowledge about tsunami events, which conditioned inadequate reactions to the emergency. These variables still constitute the same risks as a result of the reconstruction process, establishing that the occurrence of a similar event would result in a similar degree of devastation. For post-earthquake conditions, it was determined that all neighborhoods have the potential to be restorative environments soon after a tsunami. However, some neighborhoods are still located in areas devastated by the 2010 tsunami and again present high vulnerability to future tsunamis.

Se evalúa el riesgo de inundación por tsunami en la localidad de Boca Sur, comuna de San Pedro de La Paz (37ºS), Región del Biobío. Se consideró un escenario extremo de tsunami generado por un sismo de magnitud Mw= 9.0. La inundación por tsunami se obtuvo mediante modelación numérica usando el código NEOWAVE con 4 mallas anidadas de diferente resolución espacial y topo-batimetría de detalle. El análisis de vulnerabilidad consideró las dimensiones física, socioeconómica y organizacional, con datos obtenidos a través del Instituto Nacional de Estadística a nivel de manzana censal y encuestas a la población. Se determinó que el primer tren de ondas llega a la costa luego de 22 minutos de ocurrido el terremoto, alcanzando la cota de 5 msnm y alturas de fl ujo de hasta 2 m. Los factores de vulnerabilidad que explican el riesgo se asociaron a una alta precariedad de la vivienda, bajo nivel de bienestar social, alta densidad poblacional y bajo nivel de organización comunitaria de la población en caso de evacuación frente a tsunamis.

On September 16, 2015 a magnitude Mw 8.3 earthquake took place off the coast of the Coquimbo Region, Chile. Three tsunami survey teams covered approximately 700 km of the Pacific coast. The teams surveyed the area, recording 83 tsunami flow depth and runup measurements. The maximum runup was found to be 10.8 m at only one small bay, in front of the inferred tsunami source area. However, it was observed that runup in other locations rarely exceed 6 m. Tsunami runup was larger than those of the 2014 Pisagua event, despite the similar earthquake magnitude. Moreover, tsunami arrival times were found to be shorter than those of previous tsunamis along the Chilean subduction zone. Numerical simulations of the tsunami event showed a good agreement with field data, highlighting that tsunami arrival time and the spatial variation of the tsunami amplitudes were strongly influenced by the bathymetry, coastal morphology and the slip distribution of the causative earthquake.