Professor Emeritus at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Dr. Vallam Sundar, was honored with the prestigious Hamaguchi Award for the Enhancement of Tsunami and Coastal Disaster Resilience. The award was presented by Japan's Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism on October 30, 2024 in Tokyo.

His contributions related to tsunami, started with an extensive survey of the tsunami-affected coastal regions of Tamil Nadu and Kerala during the first week of January 2005. This work laid the groundwork for a comprehensive analysis of the damage and the unique challenges faced by these coastal communities. The findings culminated in the preparation and submission of a detailed master plan outlining proposed mitigation measures to enhance disaster preparedness. This document has since remained a valuable resource for both the states, guiding ongoing efforts to strengthen resilience and safeguard vulnerable areas against future coastal hazards.

The award recognises the crucial work of advancing our understanding and preparedness for coastal hazards. 

About Prof. Vallam Sundar

Prof. Sundar, has served as a faculty in the Department of Ocean Engineering, IIT Madras since 1981, and currently Professor emeritus after superannuation in 2018. He has about 575 publications across various Conferences and Journals and published 6 books. He has participated in about 100 conferences worldwide and has chaired a number of technical sessions and has served as a member of the International Scientific committee for a number of International conferences. He himself has organized 4 such major conferences. His two favourite courses, Ocean wave Mechanics and Coastal Engineering are available in Youtube, which has become handy for students and for distance learning.

He was conferred honorary doctoral degree by Univ. of Wuppertal, Germany in 2005 for his long-term academic association with them. and the Indian Society of Hydraulics honored him with Lifetime achievement award. He was one of the four-member panel of experts worldwide (others are from USA, Australia and The Netherlands) to review the coastal protection for Singapore carried out by Building & Construction authority, Singapore. He has served as member of the Expert member of the Coastal Protection & Development Advisory Committee (CPDAC), Govt. of India for three terms each of 3 years since 2010. 

IAHR elected him Chairman of its Asia Pacific division for two consecutive terms (2006-2011). He served as a member of several important committees of Governmental agencies. His solutions to a number of coastal erosion problems have led to fruitful results. He has supervised 30 Ph.D. he was elected Fellow of IAHR in 2023. Out of 58 volumes, from 1992, in the Book Series on Advanced Series on Ocean Engineering published by world Scientific, FIVE volumes are with Sundar as the lead author. Details of his contributions are available here.