CA18109 - Accelerating Global science In Tsunami HAzard and Risk analysis (AGITHAR)

Large tsunamis are low-frequency but potentially very high impact events that can cause extreme numbers of casualties as well as very large economic loss, recently demonstrated by the Sumatra-Andaman Tsunami in December 2004 and the Japan Tsunami of March 2011. In both cases the scale of the actual disaster surpassed by far the anticipated magnitudes. One of the reasons for the underestimated risk potential can be identified by a lack of rigorous, robust and standardized hazard and risk analysis methods and associated uncertainties. While a large number of probabilistic as well as deterministic methods has been proposed and used in the past, a consolidation process is dearly overdue and will require to bring experts from diverse areas of science involved in tsunami hazard and risk analysis together.

This COST action will use the specific tools of COST – namely, workshops, networking, exchange of experts – in order to

• Assess current approaches in tsunami hazard and risk analysis, and evaluate them quantitatively by means of common metrics and benchmarks;
• Determine gaps in scientific knowledge, methodological approaches and tools in order to achieve robust tsunami hazard and risk analysis across a variety of tsunami sources, including earthquakes, landslides, volcanoes, and meteorological events;
• Derive and agree on best practices and standards for probabilistic tsunami hazard and risk analysis, through discussion by a large group of practitioners;
• Identify issues and challenges to orient future research;
• Disseminate the acquired knowledge among hazard and risk practitioners and end-users.