IIT prepares tsunami warning atlas

The atlas assists in predicting the time taken by a giant wave to travel in the Indian Ocean.

A team of researchers have created a tsunami travel time atlas to assist in predicting the time taken by a giant wave to travel in the Indian Ocean.

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Tsunami expert TR Murthy, who was part of a team that prepared the atlas in collaboration with IITs in Kharagpur and Delhi, said it would help centres in India and abroad anticipate the tsunami striking the coasts. The project received assistance from the Centre.

Talking to newspersons in Visakhapatnam on Monday, he said the speed of a tsunami depended on the depth of the ocean in the area where it was generated, but not on the intensity of the earthquake.

He said it would also be possible to surmise the height of a tsunami. For instance a giant wave in the Gulf of Kutch could rise up to 15 metres and in the Gulf of Cambay up to 13 metres. A tsunami striking the Kerala coast could be between 7 and 8 metres high and near Kudalur and Nagapattinam up to 9 metres.

The coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh are likely to tidal waves between 2 and 6 metres high. He said the Visakhapatnam coast was relatively safe from a tsunami hit, but may see 2-3 metres high surges if the waves are not in the energy direction line.

Research on detecting an impending tsunami from animal behaviour is being carried out in China and Japan, Murthy added.