August 16, 2018
By Tiffany Woods
![Researchers aim to help towns prepare for and survive a tsunami.](http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/breakingwaves/files/2018/08/29658629970_7365b48cf5_z-300x271.jpg)
Researchers aim to help towns prepare for and survive a tsunami. (Photo by Tiffany Woods)
Researchers at Oregon State University have launched a 3.5-year project funded by Oregon Sea Grant that aims to help coastal towns become more resilient to storms, earthquakes, tsunamis and a rising sea. Oregon Sea Grant is providing nearly $900,000 in funding.
Launched in July, the project is led by Peter Ruggiero, a coastal geomorphologist in OSU’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences.
It aims to:
- use a computer model to simulate how climate change, earthquakes, tsunamis, population growth, land use, and hypothetical policy scenarios might affect communities’ abilities to weather coastal hazards;
- help policymakers understand the impacts of their decisions;
- result in a better understanding of options, costs and benefits for adapting to coastal hazards; and
- develop an interactive Web portal that will provide decision-makers and the public with information on how to increase coastal resilience.
![Researchers will look at how land use impacts towns’ abilities to weather coastal hazards.](http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/breakingwaves/files/2018/08/30650347654_74e23d524d_z-300x188.jpg)
Researchers will look at how land use impacts towns’ abilities to weather coastal hazards. (Photo by Tiffany Woods)
Other faculty on the project are:
- John Bolte, an expert in computer simulations in OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences;
- Dan Cox, an engineer in OSU’s College of Engineering;
- Steven Dundas, an economist in OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences;
- Jenna Tilt, a land-use planning specialist in OSU’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences; and
- Pat Corcoran, a coastal hazards specialist with Oregon Sea Grant and the OSU Extension Service.
The project will conclude in 2022.