Potential technique for improving the survival of victims of tsunamis

Akane Kurisu; Hisami Suga; Zdenek Prochazka; Kojiro Suzuki; Kazumasa Oguri; Tetsunori Inoue

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0197498

Potential technique for improving the survival of victims of tsunamis

PLoS One. 2018 May 23;13(5):e0197498. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0197498. eCollection 2018.

Authors

Akane Kurisu¹, Hisami Suga², Zdenek Prochazka³, Kojiro Suzuki⁴, Kazumasa Oguri⁵, Tetsunori Inoue⁶

Affiliations

¹ Akatutumi, Setagayaku, Tokyo, Japan.
² Department of Biogeochemistry, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan.
³ Department of Information Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Oita College, Oita, Oita, Japan.
⁴ Coastal and Ocean Engineering Department, Port and Airport Research Institute, Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan.
⁵ Department of Marine Biodiversity, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan.
⁶ Marine Information and Tsunami Department, Port and Airport Research Institute, Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan.

Abstract

We investigated a method for surviving tsunamis that involved the use of personal flotation devices (PFDs). In our work, we succeeded in numerically demonstrating that the heads of all the dummies wearing PFDs remained on the surface and were not dragged underwater after the artificial tsunami wave hit them. In contrast, the heads of all the dummies not wearing PFDs were drawn underwater immediately; these dummies were subsequently entrapped in a vortex. The results of our series of experiments are important as a first step to preventing the tragedies caused by tsunamis.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Humans
Protective Devices
Survival Analysis
Survivors*
Tsunamis*
Video Recording

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) (16H03147) (TI KS HS KO), https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-grants/. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.