The information about tsunamis is extensive and detailed, and readily
available to local designers and contractors. It is embedded in their
practise of civil engineering.
But there are many, many other factors that influence the process. To say
that using this single data point, of the bronze Buddha that survived, would
have prevented anything, is too simplistic. To really understand what
happened that led to this disaster would require understanding at least the
last 50 years of history of the place in very significant detail, as well as
understanding the impact of many external influences. The system that led
Japan to this point is wildly non-linear and complex; without a proper
model, there's no way we can make any meaningful statements about it.
Cheers.
Fil
On 18 March 2011 03:05, Kari Kuutti <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Engineering calculations are fine, but they are just as good as the
> starting data and assumptions, and here one thing has struck me as odd.
>
> On the same pacific shore just couple of hundred kilometers south of
> Fukushima (50 km south of Tokyo) is Kamakura Daibutsu, the second largest
> bronze statue of Buddha in Japan, about 13 meters high. It was casted around
> 1300, and initially housed in a temple. Buddhist temples are massively
> built, and they are rather immune to earthquakes. However, in 1495 a
> tsunami wave wiped the temple off, and the Daibutsu has been standing in
> open air since then.
>
> The site of the Daibutsu is about one kilometer from the shoreline,
> slightly uphill. It is in a valley like buddhist temples often are, but the
> valley is not a very narrow one. A wave capable of destroying the
> twentysomething meter high temple around the statue must have been mighty
> indeed, at least similar than the one that hit Fukushima, if not even
> larger.
>
> Apparently this experience has not been taken as the starting point in the
> calculations.
>
> I really hope the "the 50" can finally get their beasts tamed; the
> catastrophe is already bad enough as such without a nuclear accident getting
> totally out of hands.
>
> --Kari Kuutti
> Universty of Oulu, Finland
>
--
Filippo A. Salustri, Ph.D., P.Eng.
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
Ryerson University
350 Victoria St, Toronto, ON
M5B 2K3, Canada
Tel: 416/979-5000 ext 7749
Fax: 416/979-5265
Email: [log in to unmask]
http://deseng.ryerson.ca/~fil/
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