REDUCTION OF THE RISK BY TSUNAMI: EVACUATION PROCESSES IN CHILEAN CITIES DURING THE EARTHQUAKES OF 2010 AND 2015

Abstract

Tsunamis have always affected Chilean coastal communities, causing great loss of lives and property, and pose a permanent threat to their inhabitants. The Sumatra tsunami in 2004 took hundreds of thousands human lives along the Indian Ocean; similarly, the Chile 2010 and Japan 2011 tsunamis caused great land devastation, though less lives were lost. The Chilean case is of special interest since tsunamis have struck consistently during the last decade, which demands higher social resilience and increased effectiveness in mitigation measures to reduce local and national risk. This research presents a study of the tsunami evacuation processes carried out by the inhabitants during the earthquakes of 2010 and 2015 in the Biobío region, applying a statistical methodology to understand the behavior of the population within a diverse urban and territorial context, with plain and hilly areas. A total of 251 surveys were conducted with inhabitants affected by the tsunamis, to assess the evacuation processes, considering starting time, means of transport, the use of automobiles, traffic jams, and the quality of evacuation routes and safe zones. The objective of the study is to quantify these evacuation processes in an urban context, to prospect possible improvements in the future planning and design of coastal cities.

Keywords

• Tsunami
• earthquakes
• behavior
• evacuation route
• safety zones
• traffic jams
• hazard zones