Catastrophe modeling firm Air Worldwide Corp. has updated its earthquake model for Japan to include information learned after the devastating Tohoku earthquake and tsunami of March 2011.
The updated model includes fully probabilistic tsunami modeling as well as improved understanding of the seismicity of certain areas, among other things.
“The Tohoku event had important implications for our understanding of seismic risk in Japan and has also highlighted the importance of explicitly modeling earthquake-associated perils like tsunami and liquefaction,” said Jayanta Guin, senior vice president of research and modeling at Air Worldwide, in a statement Monday.
In the statement, AIR said its model accounts for inundation depth, water velocity and debris caused by tsunami, but also takes into account the extensive tsunami defense system in Japan as well as the probabilistic failure of levees.
(Reuters) — The operator of Japan's quake-struck Fukushima nuclear power plant said on Friday it could not rule out the possibility that it may still be leaking radiation into the sea.