# A Database for Tsunamis and Meteotsunamis in the Adriatic Sea
## 1 Introduction  
Due to the increasing number of extreme events that are being experienced around the world, the interest of the scientific community in natural hazards has grown significantly in recent years, and one of the main targets is the prevention and reduction of risks related to natural events. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030) outlines the overall objectives to substantially reduce disaster risk and losses of lives, livelihoods, and health. It clearly states that in order to diminish the frequency and impact of disasters, it is required to better understand disaster risk (exposure to hazards, vulnerability and capacity and the hazard's characteristics) and furthermore to improve risk governance and increase resilience. In this regard, many international projects related to the reduction of risk have been funded in the last decade, and the European Union has supported and financed some projects as well. In particular, a wide-ranging cross-border cooperation program between Italy and Croatia called Interreg has been established, focusing on the sea basin, coastal landscapes, green areas and urban areas as well. The Adriatic Sea is the core center of the Italy-Croatia cooperation area, and it is a joint economic and environmental asset and a natural platform for combined efforts. The coastal area, both in Italy and in Croatia, is exposed to a range of natural hazards, particularly floods, strong winds, drought, earthquakes, tsunamis and meteotsunamis. Taking into account the coastal vulnerability, disaster risk reduction is a critical factor for the social and economic development of the involved countries. In the framework of the Interreg Italy-Croatia program, Preventing, Managing and Overcoming Natural-Hazards Risks to mitiGATE economic and social impact (PMO-GATE)has been funded, and it aims at increasing safety from natural and man-made disasters along both the Italian and Croatian coasts of the Adriatic Sea. Making the most of the capitalization on the expertise gained by all partners in previous projects, and using the data and the results available from previous studies, PMO-GATE's purpose is to enhance the level of protection and resilience against natural disasters specific of the region, such as river and sea floods, earthquakes, meteotsunamis and tsunamis. In particular, the project addresses the vulnerability of the Adriatic Sea system with its coasts and islands, implementing cross-border actions in the field of prevention and management regarding the exposure to floods and meteotsunamis in a seismically vulnerable context. The final outcome of the project is an innovative methodology for preventing, managing and overcoming multi-hazard natural disasters, and climate-induced hazards (such as floods and meteotsunamis) will be combined with non-climate-induced hazards (earth-quakes and tsunamis). PMO-GATE addresses the general public, local and national public authorities, emergency services, education and training centers, universities and research institutes. An effective communication strategy to increase awareness and perception of risk in the population and public authorities is one of the pillars of the project, and the dissemination of results is one of the main goals of the project. Among the different deliverables of PMO-GATE is the realization of a database for tsunamis and meteotsunamis occurring in the Adriatic region. The Database of Adriatic Tsunamis and Meteotsunamis (DAMT) is the result of the analysis of tsunami and meteotsunami databases existing in the literature for the Adriatic area. Although the two phenomena have different origins, they affect the coasts with similar characteristics and effects, and therefore, in terms of coastal hazard, similar prevention measures must be taken. The two phenomena have always been treated separately, and the creation of a single database is, therefore, important to optimize the hazard and risk studies in the area.