Finite-element simulations of the 28 December 1908 Messina Straits (Southern Italy) tsunami

The earthquake we are dealing with occurred on December 28, 1908: because o f the number of victims (about 60,000) and the extension of the destroyed a rea (6,000 km(2)), this earthquake with the epicentral MCS intensity XI may be considered the strongest event ever reported for Italy along with the 1 693 eastern Sicily earthquake. The shock produced a large tsunami that caus ed severe damage and many victims. In all places the first sea movement was a withdrawal for a few minutes, followed by a flooding of the coast with a t least three big waves. A post-event survey allowed to estimate flooding a nd run-up heights (more than 10 m in some places). In this work we perform some numerical simulations of the tsunami generation and propagation, takin g into account different source faults: the model is based on the shallow w ater equations, solved numerically by means of a element method. The comput ational domain, covered by a mesh consisting of triangular elements, includ es the Messina Straits and the sea facing the northeastern coast of Sicily and southern Calabria. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.