In December, 1941, Japanese naval bombers destroyed the United States Pacific battleship fleet at Pearl Harbor, unleashed a rampage of conquest in the Pacific Ocean and Rim, and invaded the Dutch East Indies and New Guinea. The battered United States Pacific Fleet was then confronted by the formidable Japanese naval superiority, in quality and quantity, of warships, planes, pilots and torpedoes, but staggered up from its flaming decks to first check, and then dominate a samurai-warrior obsessed foe which killled between 28-63 million Asians. Author Don Meyers analyzes the main causes of the remarkable comeback victory at the amazingly low cost of less than 0.2% of all military fatalities in WWII. Not least among them was the skill and courage of fewer than 100 pilots and sub-skippers who sank all 22 Japanese aircraft carriers and nearly 3 million tons of their Merchant Marine, leading to their unconditional surrender. There has never been a war like World War II in the Pacific.

Many coastal areas of the United States are at risk for tsunamis. After the catastrophic 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, legislation was passed to expand U.S. tsunami warning capabilities. Since then, the nation has made progress in several related areas on both the federal and state levels. At the federal level, NOAA has improved the ability to detect and forecast tsunamis by expanding the sensor network. Other federal and state activities to increase tsunami safety include: improvements to tsunami hazard and evacuation maps for many coastal communities; vulnerability assessments of some coastal populations in several states; and new efforts to increase public awareness of the hazard and how to respond. Tsunami Warning and Preparedness explores the advances made in tsunami detection and preparedness, and identifies the challenges that still remain. The book describes areas of research and development that would improve tsunami education, preparation, and detection, especially with tsunamis that arrive less than an hour after the triggering event. It asserts that seamless coordination between the two Tsunami Warning Centers and clear communications to local officials and the public could create a timely and effective response to coastal communities facing a pending tsuanami. According to Tsunami Warning and Preparedness, minimizing future losses to the nation from tsunamis requires persistent progress across the broad spectrum of efforts including: risk assessment, public education, government coordination, detection and forecasting, and warning-center operations. The book also suggests designing effective interagency exercises, using professional emergency-management standards to prepare communities, and prioritizing funding based on tsunami risk.

Tsunamis are water waves triggered by impulsive geologic events such as sea floor deformation, landslides, slumps, subsidence, volcanic eruptions and bolide impacts. Tsunamis can inflict significant damage and casualties both nearfield and after evolving over long propagation distances and impacting distant coastlines. Tsunamis can also effect geomorphologic changes along the coast. Understanding tsunami generation and evolution is of paramount importance for protecting coastal population at risk, coastal structures and the natural environment. Accurately and reliably predicting the initial waveform and the associated coastal effects of tsunamis remains one of the most vexing problems in geophysics, and -with few exceptions- has resisted routine numerical computation or data collection solutions. While ten years ago, it was believed that the generation problem was adequately understood for useful predictions, it is now clear that it is not, especially nearfield. By contrast, the runup problem earlier believed intractable is now well understood for all but the most extreme breaking wave events.

The March 11, 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami sparked a humanitarian disaster in northeastern Japan. They were responsible for more than 15,900 deaths and 2,600 missing persons as well as physical infrastructure damages exceeding $200 billion. The earthquake and tsunami also initiated a severe nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. Three of the six reactors at the plant sustained severe core damage and released hydrogen and radioactive materials. Explosion of the released hydrogen damaged three reactor buildings and impeded onsite emergency response efforts. The accident prompted widespread evacuations of local populations, large economic losses, and the eventual shutdown of all nuclear power plants in Japan. "Lessons Learned from the Fukushima Nuclear Accident for Improving Safety and Security of U.S. Nuclear Plants" is a study of the Fukushima Daiichi accident. This report examines the causes of the crisis, the performance of safety systems at the plant, and the responses of its operators following the earthquake and tsunami. The report then considers the lessons that can be learned and their implications for U.S. safety and storage of spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste, commercial nuclear reactor safety and security regulations, and design improvements. "Lessons Learned" makes recommendations to improve plant systems, resources, and operator training to enable effective ad hoc responses to severe accidents. This report's recommendations to incorporate modern risk concepts into safety regulations and improve the nuclear safety culture will help the industry prepare for events that could challenge the design of plant structures and lead to a loss of critical safety functions. In providing a broad-scope, high-level examination of the accident, "Lessons Learned" is meant to complement earlier evaluations by industry and regulators. This in-depth review will be an essential resource for the nuclear power industry, policy makers, and anyone interested in the state of U.S. preparedness and response in the face of crisis situations.

This debut novel of the Vietnam War from the veteran and famous Merry Prankster is a “cross between Joseph Heller and Hunter S. Thompson” (Booklist). Lt. Tom Huckelbee, leathery as any Texican come crawling out of the sage, and Lt. Mike Cochran, loquacious son of an Ohio gangster, make an unlikely pair training to be marine corps chopper pilots on their way to Vietnam. But they soon go through a strange transformation together—from a couple of know-nothing young men straight out of flight school into marine aviators caught in the middle of a disorienting war. Tough and comical, quiet and boisterous, and always vivid and poetic, Ken Babbs—who cowrote The Last Go Round with fellow Prankster Ken Kesey—is at the top of his craft in this debut novel. Who Shot the Water Buffalo? manages to capture the tumult of the 1960s in all its guts and glory through the eyes of a young man discovering what it means to be beholden to another. “An impeccable, humorous heirloom, a shock of napalm that smells like . . . victory.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

This sweet story, intended for lower elementary grades, is intended to provide a window for discussing earthquakes, tsunamis, marine debris, preparedness and cultural awareness in the classroom and within families. On April 7, 2013, a little over two years after the magnitude 9 Tohoku-oki Japan earthquake triggered a massive tsunami off the coast of northeastern Japan, a lone boat washed up on the shores of Crescent City, California. The confirmation of the boat as belonging to a high school in Rikuzentakata was first step in an amazing story that has linked two tsunami-vulnerable communities on opposite sides of the Pacific and initiated friendships between high school students in Rikuzentakata.

Till the very end of the twentieth century tsunami waves (or ‘waves in a harbour’, translated from Japanese) were considered an extremely rare and exotic natural p- nomenon, originating in the ocean and unexpectedly falling upon the seaside as gigantic waves. The 26th of December 2004, when tsunami waves wiped out, in a single day, more than 250,000 human lives, mourned in many countries, turned out to be a tragic date for all mankind. The authors of this book, who have studied tsunami waves for many years, - tended it to be a systematic exposition of modern ideas concerning • The mechanisms of tsunami wave generation • The peculiarities of tsunami wave propagation in the open ocean and of how waves run-up beaches • Methods for tsunami wave registration and the operation of a tsunami warning system • The mechanisms of other catastrophic processes in the ocean related to the se- mic activity of our planet The authors considered their main goal to be the creation of book prese- ing modern knowledge of tsunami waves and of other catastrophes in the ocean to scienti?c researchers and specialists in geophysics, oceanography, seismology, hydroacoustics, geology, geomorphology, civil and seaside engineering, postgr- uate students and students of relevant professions.

Americans think of the Korean War as death and hardship in the bitter hills of Korea. It was certainly this, and for those who fought this is what they generally saw. Yet every foot of the struggles forward, every step of the retreats, the overwhelming victories, the withdrawals and last ditch stands had their seagoing support and overtones. The spectacular ones depended wholly on amphibious power -- the capability of the twentieth century scientific Navy to overwhelm land-bound forces at the point of contact. Yet the all pervading influence of the sea was present even when no major landing or retirement or reinforcement highlighted its effect. When navies clash in gigantic battle or hurl troops ashore under irresistible concentration of ship-borne guns and planes, nations understand that sea power is working. It is not so easy to understand that this tremendous force may effect its will silently, steadily, irresistibly even though no battles occur. No clearer example exists of this truth in wars dark record than in Korea. Communist-controlled North Korea had slight power at sea except for Soviet mines. So beyond this strong underwater phase the United States Navy and allies had little opposition on the water. It is, therefore, easy to fail to recognize the decisive role navies played in this war fought without large naval battles.

The Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004 is considered to have been one of the worst natural disasters in history, affecting twelve countries, from Indonesia to Somalia. 175,000 people are believed to have lost their lives, almost 50,000 were registered as missing and 1.7 million people were displaced. As well as this horrendous toll on human life