CONTRASTING RESULTS OF POTENTIAL TSUNAMI HAZARDS IN MUISNE, CENTRAL COAST OF ECUADOR

• Main Authors: Theofilos Toulkeridis, Humberto Parra1, Fernando Mato, Mario Cruz D’Howitt, Washington Sandova, Oswaldo Padilla Almeida, Willington Rentería, Fabián Rodríguez Espinosa, Rodolfo Salazar Martínez, Jessica Cueva Girón, Adriana Taipe Quispe, Lucía Bernaza Quiñonez
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tsunami Society International 2017-02-01
• Series: Science of Tsunami Hazards
• Subjects: Tsunami modeling; seismic hazard; worst case scenario; GIS; relocation
• Online Access: http://www.tsunamisociety.org/361ToulkeridisEtAl.pdf
• ISSN: 8755-6839

After the 7.8 Mw Earthquake occurred in Ecuador on April 16 of 2016, the Ecuadorian Government declared the whole Island of Muisne into a risk hazard zone by a potential Tsunami impact and subsequent flooding. Based on the emitted resolution, human settlements in the affected area were prohibited, and a resettlement project in the village of Bunche is currently taking place. Nonetheless, our study demonstrates that the inundation chart used to release the mentioned resolution underestimate the flooding area in case of a real Tsunami impact. To support this conclusion, we present a new inundation chart for the three more probable scenarios, based on historical tsunami records and a seismic hazard assessment study in central coastal Ecuador.