Disclaimer: machine translated by DeepL which may contain errors.
The Latest Science Reveals the Meiwa Tsunami
Kazuhisa Goto, Professor, Department of Earth and Planetary Science
| Kazuhisa Goto and Ayano Shimabukuro [eds. |
| The Latest Science Reveals the Meiwa Tsunami. |
| Nanzansha (2020)) |
| isbn 978-4-901427-46 |
Eleven years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake. As memories of the disaster are fading, how can we pass on memories and records from generation to generation until the next huge earthquake or tsunami, which may be far in the future? It is a difficult question, but one way is to learn from the past. In fact, there are cases in Japan where tsunami disasters of several hundred years ago are still being passed on and recognized as a real threat in the near future. A representative example is the 1771 Meiwa Tsunami, which is discussed in this book. This tsunami rose as high as 30 meters over Ishigaki Island in Okinawa Prefecture, causing a massive disaster that claimed the lives of as many as 12,000 people. The Meiwa Tsunami is a case of the world's most advanced research combining historical and geoarchaeological records with advanced numerical techniques to elucidate the actual conditions of the tsunami. In addition, many local residents are well aware of the tsunami disaster that occurred more than 250 years ago, and memorial services that began in the Showa period (1926-1989) are still held annually. This book starts with the research history of how scientists approached the reality of past tsunamis, such as the study of the huge coral rock mass launched from the sea called the tsunami stone on the cover, Kazuhisa Goto and Ayano Shimabukuro [eds. This book is a compilation of the latest research results from the viewpoints of geology, history, ethnography, archaeology, coastal engineering, and other fields. Science and literature have the power to transform "unknown" tsunamis into "known" ones. This is the starting point for disaster prevention. I hope you will realize this through this book.
Related Lecture: Department of Earth and Planetary Environmental Science, Stratigraphic Geology, Sedimentology
Published in Faculty of Science News May 2022