[U-15] Geoscience Research/Education Across Language And Cultural Boundaries 1: Scientist Experiences

[U15-P01] The roll of Earth Science in effective tsunami disaster education

★Invited Papers

*Kazuhisa Goto¹, Mie Ichihara² (1.Department of Earth and Planetary Science, The University of Tokyo, 2.Earthquake Research Institute, The University of Tokyo)

Twenty years have passed since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which caused more than 200,000 casualties around the Indian Ocean countries. This event occurred without knowledge of past tsunami events in this region, resulting in insufficient preparedness by both the government and local people. Since such low-frequency but large tsunami events typically occur at intervals of a few hundred to a thousand years, measurement and historical records are often too short. Geological, archaeological, and geomorphological records should be collected as physical evidence of paleotsunamis to accurately understand past events in the area, especially in countries where long historical records are not available.

Additionally, there is a significant gap in understanding low-frequency but large tsunamis between Earth scientists and general public, as it is usually very difficult to imagine the occurrence of such events within our lifetime. Advanced scientific results may not necessarily be very useful to local people but rather approaches related to local folklore and myths are often more effective. Therefore, appropriate educational schemes should always be customized to fit the needs of people in each country. On the other hand, geological evidence, such as on-site huge boulders and a peel of tsunami deposits in museums, is visually understandable and thus effective for educational purposes beyond language and cultural barriers. In this presentation, we will introduce our experiences about tsunami disaster education in countries around the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean.

Acknowledgment: This research was supported by SATREPS (No. JPMJSA2309), JST/JICA and JSPS