A hybrid UNESCO-IOC Expert Meeting on Tsunami Sources, Hazards, Risk and Uncertainties Associated with Vanuatu, San Cristobal and New Britain Subduction Zones took place in Port Vila, Vanuatu during 14-17 May 2024 in close coordination with the Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo-Hazard Department (VMGD), bringing together 23 experts (14 in-person/9 virtual) and 7 observers (6 in-person/1 virtual) from 10 Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Pacific Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG/PTWS) Member States (Australia, France, Fiji, Japan, Indonesia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, USA and Vanuatu). The purpose of this Expert Meeting was to quantify earthquake sources that can generate dangerous tsunamis and to directly support community hazard assessments and evacuation planning that are part of the implementation of the Tsunami Ready Recognition Programme in the Pacific Islands Countries and Territories (PICTs).

The (hybrid) Seventeenth Session of the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Tsunami and other Coastal Hazards Warning System for the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions (ICG/CARIBE-EWS XVII) took place in Managua, Nicaragua during 6-9 May 2024 with the participation of 83 experts (28 in-person, 55 virtual) from 15 ICG/CARIBE-EWS Members States (8 in-person, 7 virtual), including 27 Observers.

Noting the cross-cutting elements of its work programme closely connected with the UN EW4All and guided by strategic elements such as the Ocean Decade Tsunami Program Research and Development Implementation Plan (ODTP) and UNESCO-IOC Tsunami Ready Recognition Programme (TRRP), the ICG/CARIBE-EWS at its 17th session decided to establish a Steering Committee not only to make a move towards harmonization of global ICG governance structures but also to ensure provision of strategic guidance to its work programme and serve as an efficient instrument of results-based management, especially in providing an oversight in the execution of its decisions and recommendations.

Coastal communities worldwide are uniting to bolster their resilience to ocean hazards. Convening at the sidelines of the 2024 Ocean Decade Conference in Barcelona, Spain (10-12 April 2024), on 11 April, experts and policymakers underscored the need for proactive measures to fortify resilience against tsunamis, aligning with the Ocean Decade Challenge 6 aimed at enhancing community resilience for ocean hazards. 

Capacity building workshops on tsunami inundation mapping and tsunami evacuation planning were held as part of the UNESCO-IOC project on “Strengthening Tsunami Early Warning in the North-West Indian Ocean through Regional Cooperation – Phase 2c” with funding from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) Tsunami Trust Fund.

The workshops were hosted during 21-25 April 2024 by the Directorate General of Oman Meteorology of the Civil Aviation Authority in Muscat, Oman. Around 40 participants in tsunami warning, research, and disaster management from India, Iran, Pakistan, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) attended the events in-person with a further 25 joining the online sessions. The workshops were facilitated by trainers from the UNESCO-IOC Indian Ocean Tsunami Information Center (IOTIC), UNESCO-IOC Secretariat for the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG/IOTWMS), Germany, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, and Norway.

Participants at the workshops on tsunami inundation mapping and tsunami evacuation planning in Muscat, Oman during 21-25 April 2024. 

Last week, The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) became the first country in the North Pacific to recognize communities under the UNESCO IOC Tsunami Ready Recognition Programme. On April 23, 2024, Weno Municipality of Chuuk State and on April 26, 2024, Kolonia Town, and the municipalities of Sokehs, Kitti, Madolenihmw, U, and Nett of Pohnpei Island, Pohnpei State, became the 55th and 56th communities globally. The recognitions were facilitated by the International Tsunami Information Center (ITIC), with support from USAID. The NOAA Center for Tsunami Research (NCTR) provided hazard assessments that each State used to develop evacuation zones and response plans, conduct exercises, and hold tsunami outreach to prepare their communities.

The thirteenth annual Regional Tsunami Exercise of the UNESCO/IOC Intergovernmental Coordination Group for Tsunamis and Other Coastal Hazards for the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions (ICG/CARIBE-EWS), CARIBE WAVE 24, is conducted on the 21st of March 2024 at 1500 UTC to assist tsunami preparedness efforts throughout the Caribbean and adjacent regions. More than 700.000 people registered in the TsunamiZone. 

Christa von Hillebrandt-Andrade, Manager of the International Tsunami Information Center Caribbean Office (ITIC-CAR), discussing the PTWC tsunami products for the Puerto Rico Trench scenario with the analysts of the Puerto Rico Seismic Network (Credit: Kimberly Maisonet Gonzalez, ITIC-CAR contractor)

The Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Tsunami Early Warning and Mitigation System in the North-Eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean and Connected Seas (ICG/NEAMTWS) met in Paris, France for its 18^th Session on 6–8 February 2024. A key highlight was the election of new ICG/NEAMTWS officers Mr Alessandro Amato, Italy as the new ICG/NEAMTWS Chairperson and Mr Amr Hamouda (Egypt), Mr Ignacio Aguirre Ayerbe (Spain) for vice Chairpersons for the period 2024-2025. High on the agenda was the status of implementation of UNESCO-IOC Tsunami Ready Recognition Programme, with Cannes (France) becoming the first recognized Tsunami Ready community in NEAM region. The meeting also hailed the finalization and publication of the ICG/NEAMTWS 2021-2030 Strategy Document as an IOC Technical Series and Brochure; the conduction of regional tsunami exercise (NEAMWave23); the new approved two-years Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG-ECHO) funded CoastWAVE Project Phase-II. The group decided to establish a new task team on non-seismic tsunamis and plan the next regional tsunami exercise in 2025.  

March 11 marked the somber anniversary of the catastrophic tsunami that struck Japan in 2011, a day that forever changed the lives of thousands. Thirteen years have passed since the waves unleashed by the Great East Japan Earthquake claimed over 15,000 lives and left countless others grappling with injuries, displacement, and profound grief.

The Seventeenth Meeting of the Working Group on Tsunamis and Other Hazards related to Sea Level Warning and Mitigation Systems (TOWS-WG-XVII) concluded on February 23, 2024, in Sendai, Japan. Hosted at the International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS), Tohoku University, the meeting ran parallel to the Task Team on Disaster Management and Preparedness (TT-DMP) and the Inter-ICG Task Team on Tsunami Watch Operations (TT-TWO) meetings, sharing joint agenda items.