Tsunami databases in the eastern Mediterranean as new EPOS services

The European Plate Observing System (EPOS) provides research infrastructure, including data and services, in solid Earth science. Recently EPOS decided also to create a Tsunami Core Service (TCS). In addition to the existing databases, we contribute to the TCS initiative by providing two new tsunami databases in the eastern Mediterranean as new EPOS services. The first database compiles data on Tsunami Observation Points (TOPs) of past tsunamis.  For a specific tsunami event the TOPs DB includes the source epicenter, the TOPs names and the corresponding geographical coordinates, names of the localities and a characterization of the tsunami intensity level, K, in each TOP. The second database compiles data on the impact of past tsunamis. Depending on the data availability an effort has been made to introduce quantitative impact data to the extent it is possible (e.g., numbers of fatalities and injuries, numbers of buildings or vessels damaged, etc.). From the impact of a tsunami event the maximum tsunami intensity, K, has been estimated according to the 12-grade scale of Papadopoulos and Imamura (2001). The new service is of great importance since it may help in studies of several kinds such as understanding better of the tsunami source type, determination of the inundation area, verification of tsunami simulation results and tsunami risk assessment.