Comparing modern and historical records of cyclone induced extreme sea level events : examples from Australia and the Philippines.

To date most natural hazard risk assessments in Australasia do not incorporate long-term and/or prehistoric records of extreme events and coastal development continues to rely on short historical records as a reflection of the long-term behaviour of a hazard. In some locations such as southern China or the Philippines historical records may be appropriate as consistent records have been kept for several centuries or even a millennium. However, for much of the Asia-Pacific this is rare as the historical archives rarely stretch beyond World War II. Clearly such short records are inadequate for determining the natural variability of a hazard at multi-decadal timescales and for the extrapolation of extreme events.  While it is well known that the historical record is fragmentary, incomplete and limited in spatial balance, the historical record does provide a key link between instrumental datasets and the prehistoric record that allows for the detailed reconstruction of past events. Here, we compare known historical tropical cyclone events to recent ones in Western Australia (UC1921 and cyclone Herbie) and the central Philippines (Typhoon Haiyan and Ty1897) as examples of integrated studies. The two examples demonstrate the utility of the integrated approach and allow an examination of the similarities and differences between the events. Such efforts must become familiar to those outside of academia, as familiarity breeds awareness and it is through awareness and adoption that the true potential of integrating across disciplines will be recognized.