Deterministic Tsunami Hazard Assessment for the Eastern Coast of the United Arab Emirates: Insights from the Makran Subduction Zone

Mouloud Hamidatou (), Abdulla Almandous, Khalifa Alebri, Badr Alameri and Ali Megahed
Additional contact information
Mouloud Hamidatou: Tsunami Early Warning Section, Seismology Department, National Center of Meteorology, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 4815, United Arab Emirates
Abdulla Almandous: World Meteorological Organization (WMO), CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland
Khalifa Alebri: Tsunami Early Warning Section, Seismology Department, National Center of Meteorology, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 4815, United Arab Emirates
Badr Alameri: Tsunami Early Warning Section, Seismology Department, National Center of Meteorology, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 4815, United Arab Emirates
Ali Megahed: Tsunami Early Warning Section, Seismology Department, National Center of Meteorology, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 4815, United Arab Emirates

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 23, 1-33

Abstract: Tsunamis are destructive oceanic hazards caused by underwater disturbances, mainly earthquakes. A deterministic tsunami hazard assessment for the United Arab Emirates (UAE), due to the Makran Subduction Zone (MSZ), was conducted based on the history of earthquakes in the region and considering the rapid development and urbanization of the east coast of the UAE. A variety of earthquake source scenarios was modeled, involving moment magnitudes of 8.2, 8.8, and 9.2. Tsunami travel time (TTT), run-up, flow depth, and inundation maps were generated to pinpoint the areas susceptible to tsunami hazards for the eastern coastal cities of Kalba, Al Fujairah, Khor Fakkan, and Dibba. The results show that the worst-case M w 9.2 earthquake in a full MSZ rupture scenario resulted in an average TTT of 37 min, a maximum run-up height of 2.55 m, a maximum flow depth of 2.2 m, and a maximum inundation distance of 253 m on the east coast of the UAE. The M w 8.2 western MSZ earthquake and the M w 8.8 eastern MSZ earthquake scenarios were of less significant impact. These findings provide new insights into tsunami hazard assessment and are expected to play a vital role in advancing sustainable development in the region by providing key information for stakeholders and authorities as they highlight the need for enhanced tsunami mitigation and preparedness measures to reduce the potential impact of future tsunamis on the UAE.

Keywords: UAE; deterministic tsunami hazard assessment; Makran Subduction Zone; inundation; sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/23/10665/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/23/10665/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:23:p:10665-:d:1537253

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().