Preface to “New Developments in Tsunami Science: from Hazard to Risk”

none3siTsunami science has progressed very quickly in recent years after the big catastrophic event of 26 December 2004 in the Indian Ocean, which called everybody’s attention to the great impact tsunamis may have on society and natural environment; subsequently, initiated discussions, activities and research on all aspects of tsunamis, but especially on the tsunami consequences and the way they can be reduced. This Special Issue (SI) on tsunamis represents a collection of papers that were presented at the tsunami symposium organized by the European Geosciences Union (EGU) during the 2010 General Assembly (2–7 May 2010, Vienna), and forms a forum offered to specialists and researchers to illustrate the latest achievements in tsunami science especially in the chain that leads from hazard to risk: more precisely in the set of topics encompassing the evaluation of the tsunami hazard, the estimation of exposure and vulnerability, the assessment of risk and the planning and the implementation of tsunami early warning system and risk mitigation policies. The papers of this SI can be classified as (i) fundamental aspects of the tsunami theory and analysis of tsunami events with examples covering an extensive time interval from ancient times up to recent days; (ii) tsunami hazard assessment: its methods and applications; (iii) evaluation of tsunami vulnerability, tsunami damage, and tsunami risk: their methods and applications; (iv) innovative tools for tsunami early forecast and warning system as of present and of the next generation.openDidenkulova I.; Monserrat S.; Tinti S.Didenkulova I.; Monserrat S.; Tinti S