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Inundation behavior of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake tsunami in the Taro District, Miyako City, northeast Japan, as inferred from directional traces

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Abstract

The tsunami caused by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake devastated numerous cities, towns, and villages in coastal areas of Japan. The tsunami also left varied and numerous traces in onshore areas, which provide insights into the nature of tsunami inundation patterns and methods for mitigation of feature tsunami disasters. This paper focuses on tsunami traces that provide information on flow directions, such as groove marks on concrete and asphalt surfaces, and bent poles. Based on the distribution of directional traces, the flow patterns of the tsunami were estimated in the inundation area of the Taro District, Miyako City, northeast Japan. The inundation behavior is generally consistent with the hypothesis of run-up and backwash pattern suggested by previous investigations (run-up flows tend to be perpendicular to coastlines, whereas backwash flows tend to favor topographic lows). Examination of the relationship between the inundation behavior and the barriers constructed in Taro District shows that the barriers would slightly influence inundation behavior and implies that they may not be effective for reducing entire damage when tsunamis overflow barriers. Regional difference of the inundation behavior relates areal difference between the most destructed area and other areas. The difference of intensity of damages would be caused by that of land use in coastal areas.

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Acknowledgments

The author is grateful to Tsunemasa Shiki, Hiroshi Ikeda, Takayuki Kawabe, Hisashi Suzuki, Teiji Mikami, and Jun-ichi Kainuma for discussion during the field excursion to Iwate and Miyagi prefectures. The author is also grateful to two anonymous reviewers for thoughtful comments.

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  1. Soil Engineering Corporation, 195 Toyota, Higashi-ku, Okayama, 704-8162, Japan

    Toru Tachibana

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  1. Toru Tachibana
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Correspondence to Toru Tachibana.

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Tachibana, T. Inundation behavior of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake tsunami in the Taro District, Miyako City, northeast Japan, as inferred from directional traces. Nat Hazards 75, 2311–2330 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-014-1427-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-014-1427-6

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