International conference on Tsunami opens in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski

An international conference "Local Tsunami - Warning and Lessening of Consequences" opened in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski (Russian Far East) on Tuesday.

Taking part in the conference are scientists from 11 countries - Russia, Ukraine, USA, Canada, Japan, France, Indonesia, Italy, Turkey, French Polynesia, and New Zealand.

Mikhail Nosov, one of the organizers of the conference, said that the conference is devoted to the 50th anniversary of the destructive tsunami of 1952, when a huge wave destroyed the town of Severo-Kurilsk (the Kuril Islands), killing, according to the official figures, more than 2,300 people. This event is usually taken as a point of departure of tsunami studies in Russia.

The conference discussed issues connected with forecasting the origins of the destructive waves and prevention of their disastrous consequences. According to Nosov, most attention is devoted to local tsunamis, or those whose spread from the source to the coastline is measured by minutes. It is most difficult to protect oneself against such waves.