A Japanese research group studying protection measures against massive tsunamis has succeeded in simulating a 2.5-meter tsunami using a waterway-shaped device.

The Port and Airport Research Institute in Yokosuka developed a 5-meter-deep concrete water tank measuring 184 meters in length and 3.5 meters in width. To simulate the extent of damage from a killer tsunami, they installed walls of a wooden house and life-sized dolls inside the tank and generated a tsunami-like wave with a maximum pressure of 10 tons per square meter, about one-25th that of the Dec 26 tsunami off Sumatra.

Via Japan Today and Kyodo News. Bigger picture.