THE TSUNAMI PROJECT: INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACHES TO POST-TSUNAMI SURVEYS

Recent tsunamis in the Solomon Islands (2007), Java (2006) and Sumatra (2004, 2005) have demonstrated the need for an integrated, interdisciplinary team of engineers, natural and social scientists to survey the immediate aftermath of the disaster. Two weeks after an tsunami is a critical time for researchers to begin the process of understanding the disaster- the immediate response phase is over (the dead and injured have been cared for and most critical infrastructure has been resumed) and scientists can collect necessary ephemeral forensic data, and the recovery phase is beginning in earnest. Data collected during this critical period can be used to better understand coastal zone vulnerabilities with the ultimate aim of better preparation for future hazards.

Complex interactions in the coupled human-environment system necessitate a coordinated, interdisciplinary approach that combines the strengths of engineering, geoscience, ecology and social science to understand the nature of a disaster. Engineers and geoscientists untangle the forces required to leave an imprint of a tsunami in the geologic record. These same forces affect critical ecosystems that provide ecosystem services from buffers to food security; therefore coastal ecologists must be included in the conversation. It is also critical to understand the stressed social structures that contributed to the disaster. When these experts arrive in a disaster area as part of an Interdisciplinary Tsunami Survey Team, the interactions between the systems can be discussed in the field, and site-specific data can be collected.

This approach indeed strengthens post-tsunami surveys- engineers and geoscientists no longer have to indentify coral or mangrove species, nor do ecologists have to speculate as to the velocity of a wave as it crashed into a forested coastline. Interviews, a core element of post-tsunami surveys and which most US academic institutions require human-subject training to complete, can be undertaken by social scientists trained to ask questions pertinent to both the natural scientists and engineers, and those that will illuminate the underlying weaknesses of the social institutions that contributed to the magnitude of the disaster.