A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the sudden displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explosions (including detonations of underwater nuclear devices), landslides, glacier calving, meteorite impacts and other disturbances above or below water all have the potential to generate a tsunami.

These waves are very different from normal sea waves, because their wavelength is far longer. Large events can generate wave heights of tens of metres and therefore, although the main impact of tsunamis is to coastal areas, their potential destructive power is enormous and they can affect entire ocean basins; the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was among the deadliest natural disasters in human history with over 230,000 people killed in 14 countries bordering the Indian Ocean.

Tsunami: from fundamentals to mitigation comprises seven chapters, dealing with the different aspects of the field. The first chapter deals with the different types of tsunami and their historical data. Chapter 2 describes an inverse type solution to find a posteriori of the tsunami waveform. One of the main problems with tsunamis, described in Chapter 3, is how to assess the flooding they produce. Chapter 4 deals with the very important topic of Early Warning Systems. Chapter 5 not only studies the behaviour of RC buildings under the 2011 Japanese Tsunami but puts forward a series of recommendations. One of the most damaging aspects of Tsunamis is the damage to infrastructure and building systems. Chapter 6 discusses this along with providing guideline measures to take in the future. Finally Chapter 7 studies the important problem of health and related issues due to tsunami disasters.

The book’s editor, S. Mambretti, assembled an impressive team of experts to provide the reader with a substantive examination of recent mitigation efforts related to tsunamis... the book should be useful to mitigation researchers and professionals as a professional reference to improve their understanding of the impacts of tsunami and of potential mitigation measures.

Journal of Homeland Security & Emergency Management, September 2013.

All the chapters of the Book contain a valuable contribution to advanced research and “lessons learned” and to design of a new approach aiming at reducing the vulnerability of people and property to tsunami hazards in the coastal environments of the Earth.

Prof. Daniele De Wrachien, EurAgEng Past President, July 2013.