TSUNAMI RISK ASSESSMENT OF SANDWIP ISLAND IN THE COAST OF BANGLADESH USING GIS TOOL

Zaki Uddin Ahmad , Iftesham Bashar , Md. Mostafizur Rahman, Arifuzzaman

Abstract: The threat of tsunami on the coastal region of Bangladesh has emerged after the Great Indian Ocean earthquake in 2004. Previously, it was thought that Bangladesh is beyond the threat of tsunami but the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami has raised the need for assessing tsunami risk on Bangladesh coast, since about 32 percent of the people live in these areas. A number of geological faults have been identified in the vicinity of Bay of Bengal; which are currently being considered for potential sources of underwater earthquake. For this study, the guidelines from Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) is followed which includes assessing the hazard, vulnerability and final risk due to tsunami. GIS analysis was performed on the tsunami hazard map to find the ultimate risk. From the analysis it was found that a minimum of about 60 percent of people in the shelter units which are susceptible to potential inundation are at risk to lose their lives. With rise of inundation heights, the percentage of possible loss of people also rises accordingly. Again a night-time tsunami poses more threat to people than a day-time tsunami. It was focused to combine the results of hazard, vulnerability and risk assessment for a community in the coastal belt of Bangladesh

Keywords: IOC Guidelines, Day and Night Time Tsunami, Risk Mapping

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15623/ijret.2013.0212066