Safe Ocean Lab – Satellite Activity: “100% of at-risk communities recognized Tsunami Ready”

The ocean has tremendous power. It is capable of devastating coastal communities, ecosystems, and economies. The Safe Ocean Laboratory event addressed topics related to mitigation of and preparedness of communities to ocean hazards such as tsunamis, and the opportunity presented by the IOC Tsunami Ready programme.

A webinar showcasing Tsunami Ready communities across the globe, highlighting unique experiences of different community participants, and discussing challenges and opportunities of the journey was organized by the Tsunami Unit of UNESCO/IOC on 7 April 2022. The event contributed to the UN Ocean Decade Safe Ocean Laboratory as a satellite activity.

Tsunami Ready is a community performance-based programme based on a set of indicators, that facilitates tsunami preparedness as an active collaboration of the public, community leaders, local and national emergency management agencies. The programme includes identification of the local tsunami hazards, community evacuation based on natural and official warnings, and the development of standard operation procedures for tsunami response across all levels.

Since 2015, UNESCO/IOC in association with Member States, community stakeholders and partners has developed and worked to build up its Tsunami Ready programme, based on the U.S. experience. The first pilot communities were implemented in the Caribbean region. The programme has since gradually grown into a global programme, with 28 communities currently recognized as Tsunami Ready. 

The webinar was divided into two sessions, each focused on Tsunami Ready experiences in different world regions. The first session showcased the experience of five communities across the Indian Ocean and Atlantic, Mediterranean, and adjacent seas: Odisha State (India), Lebak (Java, Indonesia), Chipiona (Spain), Istanbul (Turkey) and Kos and Samos (Greece). The second session highlighted communities in the Pacific and Caribbean regions: Puerto Rico, St. Kitts and Nevis, Tonga, Samoa and Waikiki (Hawaii).

The webinar offered the opportunity to experience these distinct Tsunami Ready journeys through a virtual forum and interaction with key Tsunami Programme staff and partners as well as local and national leaders that have championed Tsunami Ready in their own communities. Brief videos were also played, depicting each Tsunami Ready community and they’re distinctive experience implementing the Tsunami Ready programme, whether by including art projects to increase awareness, participation of schools, or innovative approaches to hazard assessments and mapping (these videos can be accessed here). The speakers and audience travelled virtually to each location by means of the new Tsunami Ready Viewer, a tool developed to provide a visual representation of the Tsunami Ready programme.

The video recording of both sessions can be found here.

Under the UN Ocean Decade, the Tsunami Unit is spearheading an initiative to achieve the target of “100% of at-risk communities recognized Tsunami Ready by 2030” by creating a UN Decade Tsunami Ready, which will propel efforts in community preparedness across the global ocean.