Thirteenth Session of the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Tsunami Early Warning and Mitigation System in the North-eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean and Connected Seas (ICG/NEAMTWS-XIII): Four Tsunami Service Providers Accredited

The Thirteenth Session of the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System in the North-eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean and connected seas (ICG/NEAMTWS) was held from 26–28 September 2016, Bucharest and hosted by the National Institute for Earth Physics of Romania. It marked an important milestone in the development of NEAMTWS. The session will be particularly remembered for the Group’s approval of the accreditation of the four Candidate Tsunami Service Providers of CENtre d'Alerte aux Tsunamis (France), Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia - Centro Allerta Terremoti (Italy), National Observatory of Athens (Greece) and Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute (Turkey) and that they henceforth can be referred to as Tsunami Service Providers.

 Participants of the ICG /NEAMTWS-XIII, Bucharest, Romania, 26-28 September 2016,
Source: Denis Chang Seng/ IOC-UNESCO

NEAMTWS is one of four regional tsunami warning systems and is the only system where the ICG has decided that Tsunami Service Providers should be accredited. The basic accreditation procedure and criteria were established by ICG/NEAMTWS in 2012 and updated in 2015. Following the formal application to be accredited two accreditation teams reviewed the procedures of the four Candidate Tsunami Service Providers during June –September 2016. The findings of the accreditation teams are available on the meeting web-site.

The Group was informed about the joint institutional effort in monitoring of earthquakes and tsunamis in the western Black Sea area and the intentions of Romania to establish a National Tsunami Warning Center. The Group noted and welcomed the intention of Portugal to start its National Tsunami Warning Center in 2017.

The Group decided to organize a tsunami wave exercise in the 4^th quarter of 2017 (NEAMWave17). A Task Team was established to coordinate the exercise.
The Group was also informed about the decision in Israel to put up permanent standard tsunami information and evacuation signs along its entire coast.

 Tsunami information and evacuation signs along the coast in the city of Ashkelon,
Ashdod, Ashdod Sea Port, Israel, Source: Amir Yahav

Amir Yahav

Finally, the Group was informed about UNISDR’s plans for the First World Tsunami Awareness Day (5 November 2016). More information about WTAD is available from http://www.unisdr.org/2016/tsunamiday/ .

The Thirteenth session of ICG/NEAMTWS was attended by 48 participants from 14 member states and two observer organizations.

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