Comparison of two great Chile tsunamis in 1960 and 2010 using numerical simulation

Great differences in hazard and losses were shown from two tsunamis, both generated in Chile, one in 1960 and the other in 2010. Numerical simulation was applied to the tsunami analysis. The fault dislocation of the seafloor was assumed to equal to the initial tsunami wave field, which can be calculated by the formula of fault dislocation in the elastic isotropic half-space. The linear long wave theory was used as the tsunami hydrodynamic model, and the finite difference method and leap-frog scheme were selected for solving the equations. The accuracy of the simulated results was verified by the observed data in five tide gauges. By means of two scenario tsunamis, the analytical results show that the earthquake magnitude, bathymetry in rupture zone and rapid release of warning information in 2010 tsunami are the main explanations of the aforementioned great difference.