抄録
In the Solomon Islands, a large earthquake of magnitude 8.1 occurred on April 2, 2007, and the coastal area was badly damaged by the tsunami. We carried out a field survey in the southern coastal area of Gizo Island in August, 2007 in order to verify the effect of coastal forest in tsunami damage reduction. Most houses in the villages we surveyed had been washed away. We identified the position of the houses using satellite images before the tsunami disaster, and we obtained information on the structure, material and degree of damage of all houses by observation and interviews with the residents. Complete enumeration of coastal forest was carried out, while the representative landform was clarified by surveying the traverse baseline. As a result, factors which reduced damage to houses by the tsunami were considered to be the height of the house floor, ground height and the forest stand of the coastal area. Although the relationship between these factors could not be clarified due to heavy damage to the houses, it became clear that the coastal forest reduced the tsunami damage