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Volume 58 Supplement 2

Special Issue: The 2004 Great Sumatra Earthquake and Tsunami

The 2004 Indian tsunami in Thailand: Surveyed runup heights and tide gauge records

Earth, Planets and Space volume 58, pages 223–232 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Tsunami accompanied with the Sumatra earthquake of 26 December 2004 affected many countries around the Indian Ocean. Thailand located approximately 500 km east of its source, was also severely suffered from the tsunami. From 24 February through 4 March 2005, we surveyed the damaged areas in Thailand from south of Phuket Island up to the border of Myanmar including four islands. The whole coastal area facing the Andaman Sea could be covered. We measured 37 points in total, the tsunami heights are less than 10 m, except at a few locations. We found that the largest tsunami height reached up to 19.6 m at Ban Thung Dap of Phra Thong Island. During our survey, we also collected five paper copies of analog tide gauge records. In addition that we could detect two other tide gauge records from the web-site. Therefore, totally seven tide gauge records were obtained in Thailand. All of the recorded tsunami waveforms indicate that sea level initially withdrew with duration in 30 to 60 min, followed by the rising-up. This phenomenon corresponds to the eyewitnesses’ accounts of the survivors who experienced the tsunami.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Eearthquake Research Institute, University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0032, Japan

    Yoshinobu Tsuji & Yuichi Namegaya

  2. Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, 2-15, Natsushima, Yokosuka, 237-0061, Japan

    Hiroyuki Matsumoto

  3. National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention, 3-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, 305-0006, Japan

    Sin-Iti Iwasaki

  4. Thai Meteorological Department, Sukhumvit Rd., Bangna, Bangkok, 10260, Thailand

    Wattana Kanbua

  5. Rangsit University, Phaholyothin Rd., Lak-Hok, Pathumhani, 12000, Thailand

    Mongkonkorn Sriwichai

  6. Hydro and Agro Informatics Institute, Rangnam Rd., Phayathai, Ratchatewi, Bangkok, 10400, Thailand

    Vorawit Meesuk

Authors
  1. Yoshinobu Tsuji
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  2. Yuichi Namegaya
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  3. Hiroyuki Matsumoto
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  4. Sin-Iti Iwasaki
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  5. Wattana Kanbua
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  6. Mongkonkorn Sriwichai
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  7. Vorawit Meesuk
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hiroyuki Matsumoto.

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Tsuji, Y., Namegaya, Y., Matsumoto, H. et al. The 2004 Indian tsunami in Thailand: Surveyed runup heights and tide gauge records. Earth Planet Sp 58, 223–232 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03353382

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03353382

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