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It seems to me that homes built in low-lying areas adjacent to tectonic subduction zones are highly prone to destruction by the occasional tsunami (it's an odd borrowed Japanese word that means "Harbour Wave"because of the observation that harbour levels change dramatically when one is about to strike).
The
simple solution is to build all dwellings and buildings in areas likely to be affected by a tsunami in the form of an ark... A heavy, stable, broad-bottomed vessel that can safely lift up in the onrushing wall of water and settle again in a safe manner after it subsides.
Perfect for schools, hospitals and workplaces, too. Has the added benefit of reviving the dying arts of boatbuilding and rendering unemployment practically extinct.
[link]
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You would need features like detachable utilities so
these buildings would be able to rise untethered.
Hospitals would need generators built into the boat
structure and there probably should be in-house
emergency boats, just in case. |
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Tower blocks might need to topple on their sides,
possibly providing the opportunity for office workers
to put out oars to allow them to row to safety! |
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I suppose it depends on the scale, and the toppleability.
At one end of the scale, the entire town, city or shanty
village is on a big boat that goes up, and everybody just
goes "woooahhahhaoooohhahhoahahoa" as it happens,
then everything carries on as normal. At the other end
of the scale, everything is fitted with boats - vehicles
have boat skids, shoes are boat shoes, little ones for
dogs and cats, etc. But most of those will fall over as
they float up. |
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This doesn't sound good to me. I've never witnessed a
tsunami, but my understanding is that the problem isn't so
much rising water, as violently inrushing water. Things get
shoved and smashed, which is more lethal than submersion
alone. I think the last thing you want is a bunch of houses
which are even easier for the tsunami to throw around. |
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Water recedes, then rushes back at great speed and surge level, picking up moveable items and making them into projectiles, or smashing fixed objects and converting the floating debris to similar. |
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Water then rushes back, carrying debris, smashing everything from other direction. |
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What is therefore required is a building design with a "prow" or "plough" profile both shorewards and inland, allowing water and entrained debris to flow around. |
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[+] for addressing the problem, but [-] for a really bad way of doing it, so neutral. |
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So, I nailed the "poorly thought out idea" aspect of it? |
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Similarly, it would appear that the original ark was felt necessary because of the sudden incursion of the mediterranean through what is now the Bosporus Strait, into the Black Sea. |
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I agree that a tsunami is violent. It is not terribly fast, once it reaches shallow waters, but it mounts up into a very high wave as it breaks onto land. |
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// I nailed the "poorly thought out idea" aspect // |
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Interestingly, many illustrations of Noah's Ark show it as "double ended", which would be ideal in this situation. |
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That's the sort of thing I imagined. Flat bottom, broad beam, high buoyancy. Every time there's a tsunami you get a complete change of scenery. |
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Did you get this idea from the "2012" trailer? |
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Lots of houses near the beach are built on stilts. |
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Yes, but storm surges and tsunamis tend to be so powerful and rise to such levels that such properties are still vulnerable. |
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The solution is to use hydrodynamically profiled steel or concrete pilings, not simply wooden posts which is often the case. |
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You could modify my Funicular Housing idea to track the wavefront and maintain a constant distance - that would be fun in real time. "Why are we rapidly heading out to sea ?" |
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I like the idea of detachable buildings, but feel they need to be lifted clear of the impending doom by rapidly inflating balloons. |
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What is the "2012" trailer? |
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Balloons would be good, [egbert], but they would also fall into disrepair between incidents. |
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As you mentioned, this works fine if the water has the ability to go under you, but would fail if the wave hits the bottom and crests over. Even without it, it has the problem of driving your house thru the immobile houses of your neighbors. |
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Things like this are proposed for river flooding but aren't
practical for both flash flooding and tsunamis for the reasons
mentioned above. (If you've ever felt the impact of a wave
breaking over you, that's the experience a tsunami creates
on a much larger scale). |
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Instead of going over then tsunami, the house could be well anchored, hydrodynamic (part-spherical shell?), armoured and fully sealing. Let the water and debris go over the house. (Similar concept could apply to tornado-proofing.) |
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// hydrodynamic (part-spherical shell?), armoured and fully sealing. // |
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Baked. It's called a "submarine", [n_s]. |
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