Many people are not aware that the Iberian Peninsula has one of the highest risks of a mega-earthquake and tsunami in the entire Atlantic Ocean. In the last 9,000 years, the Gulf of Cádiz has experienced between 9 and 14 tsunamis. The last one, known as The Great Lisbon Earthquake, occurred in 1755 and it changed the history of Europe. The question that arises now is: what will happen when the next one arrives? We need to gather more evidence and prepare ourselves to face the potential disaster.

‘Prepared for the Tsunami?’ is a documentary that explores science, technology and safety measures related to earthquakes and tsunamis, with the participation of specialists from different research centers who discuss the causes and reveal new evidence about the recurrence which these phenomena occur, and announces existing prevention measures and explores innovations that can keep us safe.

The film, produced by Goat Knight and written and directed by Erik Martínez-Westley, first premiered at the Instituto de Ciencias del Mar (ICM) – CSIC in Barcelona on December 15th, 2023, puts current risks on the table through historical facts and scientific analysis, and offers practical advice and solutions based on new technologies. Among the attendees were Enrique Álvarez López and María Belón Bordes, survivors of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, and renowned seismologists, geologists, marine geoscientists, geophysicists, and mathematicians from ICM – CSIC, the National Geographic Institute, Barcelona Tech – UPC, among them Joaquin Del Rio, who head the EMSO OBSEA Regional Facility, the University of Malaga, and the University of Barcelona.

‘Prepared for the Tsunami?’ has the testimony of experts from different research organizations such as the European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water column Observatory – European Research Infrastructure Consortium (EMSO-ERIC), which has monitoring sites across the European seas in seismically active areas equipped with geophysical sensors that can constantly gather data on seismic, volcanic, and tsunami activity in the ocean, the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC), the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain (IGME-CSIC), the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO-CSIC), the National Geographic Institute (IGN), and professors from the universities of Cádiz, Málaga, Lisbon and Hawaii, the municipalities of Huelva or Chipiona, engineers from Telxius (Telefónica) and the family of María Belón, survivors of the 2004 Thailand tsunami.

 

Group photo during the documentary “¿Preparados para el Tsunami?” premiering at ICM – CSIC in Barcelona.

 

The documentary is also sponsored by the University of Hawaii and Joint Task Force, Telxius, Telefónica and European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water column Observatory – European Research Infrastructure Consortium (EMSO-ERIC).

 

Further information here