• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.269-282
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• 2006

We numerically studied tsunami propagation characteristics through Korean Straits based on nonlinear shallow water equation, a robust wave driver of the near field tsunamis. Tsunamis are presumed to be generated by the earthquake in Tsuhima-Koto fault line. The magnitude of earthquake is chosen to be 7.5 on Richter scale, which corresponds to most plausible one around Korean peninsula. It turns out that it takes only 60 minutes for leading waves to cross Korean straits, which supports recently raised concerns at warning system might be malfunctioned due to the lack of evacuation time. We also numerically obtained the probability of tsunami inundation of various levels, usually referred as tsunami hazard, along southern coastal area of Korean Peninsula based on simple seismological and Kajiura (1963)'s hydrodynamic model due to tsunami-generative earthquake in Tsuhima-Koto fault line. Using observed data at Akita and Fukaura during Okushiri tsunami in 1993, we verified probabilistic model of tsunami height proposed in this study. We believe this inundation probability of various levels to give valuable information for the amendment of current building code of coastal disaster prevention system to tame tsunami attack.