Eigth session of PTWS WG 2 on Tsunami Detection, Warning and Dissemination; Task Team Seismic Data Sharing in the Southwest Pacific

8th Session of the PTWS Working Group 2: Tsunami Detection, Warning and Dissemination; Task Team Seismic Data Sharing in the Southwest Pacific

The 8th session of the Pacific Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (PTWS) Working Group 2 Task Team on Seismic Data Sharing in the Southwest Pacific was hosted by the Government of Tonga through the Tonga Geological Service (TGS) and Tonga Meteorological Service (TMS) on 20th October, 2022 at the Tanoa Dateline International Hotel, Nuku’alofa, Tonga.

Figure 1: Group Photo at Tanoa Dateline International Hotel, Nuku'alofa, Tonga

In opening the meeting, the Chief Executive Officer for Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Ms. Rosamond Bing, stated “The meeting this week provides an opportunity for us to engage with our partners and share experiences to ensure we are better prepared prior to and during disaster events. It’s important that our multi-hazard early warning systems work and let’s work together to address our challenges. Most importantly to ensure the people receive the warnings and know what to do” Rosamond also stressed the importance of being resilient and shared her experience during Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai eruption.

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Five-day tsunami modelling training for the Peruvian Navy Tsunami Warning Center conducted in Callao, Peru

The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai (HTHH) volcanic eruption on January 15, 2022, and its subsequent tsunami posed a great challenge to tsunami early warning centres around the world. To improve preparedness to tsunamis, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, which leads the Pacific Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (PTWS), organized a 5-day tsunami modelling workshop for the Peruvian Navy Tsunami Warning Center from 17-21 October 2022, held in the facilities of the Directorate of Hydrography and Navigation (DHN) in Callao, Peru.

Photo credit: DHN

The instructors for this workshop were Dr. Patricio Catalán, Professor at the Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Chile, and Alejandra Gubler, PhD student and researcher at CIGIDEN, Universidad Católica de Chile. Both are experts with vast experience in tsunami modelling and early warning systems. In addition, several other invited speakers delivered presentations online. Dr Erick Mas, associate professor at Tohoku University, Japan, presented about tsunami-generating mechanisms. Dr Hermann Fritz, professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA, spoke about volcanic eruptions and tsunamis. Finally, Dr Raphaël Paris, professor at the Université Clermont-Auvergne, France, shared about the physical mechanisms of volcanic eruptions and Lamb waves.

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Dialogue: How to holistically address requirements, challenges and opportunities of effective local tsunami warning in the multi-hazard disaster risk mitigation context

The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (EC-JRC), Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO) and the UNESCO-Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) co-organized a hybrid-workshop on 4-5 October 2022 at EC-JRC Ispra, Italy. The workshop discussed on the requirements, challenges and opportunities of effective local tsunami warning in the multi-hazard disaster risk mitigation context including earthquake, volcano, and meteo-tsunami Early Warning Systems (EWS).

The workshop outcomes aim to support the development of an integrated, truly multi-hazard-oriented coastal community resilience policy brief for Europe, as well as the further development of the North-eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean and connected seas Tsunami Early Warning and Mitigation System (NEAMTWS). Mr Öcal Necmioglu, Science Project Officer at EC JRC stressed that “making use of earthquake or volcano early warning systems for less than 1 minute tsunami warning has the potential to reduce the early-warning time drastically. In addition, such integrated and multi-disciplinary systems could provide a solid framework for their sustainability - also in terms of economic efficiency. Hence, we need to adopt a multi-disciplinary approach and promote such integrated systems to ensure the availability and the effectiveness of “last mile” multi-hazard early warning systems for enhanced coastal community disaster resilience”.  Mr Denis Chang Seng, Technical Secretary of the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the NEAMTWS, emphasised that “the joint workshop draws on important technical and operational questions discussed in the last two years within the ICG/NEAMTWS setting, concerning the development of national to local TEWS, and the initiative will help to address them’’.

From top to bottom and left right: EC JRC Crisis room; Maurizio Ripepe, University of Florence, Italy, presenting on the Stromboli Volcano TEWS; group picture of the workshop in person participants. Photographs credit: EC JRC (Group photo) and UNESCO.

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TSU/MAB Joint Initiative speaks at the 10th Meeting of the World Network of Island and Coastal Biosphere Reserves

On Wednesday 19 October 2022, the Tsunami Unit (TSU) of IOC and UNESCO San Jose Office were invited to speak at the 10th Meeting of the World Network of Island and Coastal Biosphere Reserves (WNICBRs), held in the German Wadden Sea (17-20 October). The presentation focused on the ongoing TSU and UNESCO Man and Biosphere programme Joint Initiative on developing preparedness and resilience to coastal hazards in the Savegre Biosphere Reserve, Costa Rica.

The TSU/MAB Joint Initiative was developed to address the vulnerability of populations in the Savegre Biosphere Reserve to coastal hazards, which are set to become more frequent and intense with climate change. While most coastal hazards cannot be prevented, risks and vulnerability can be reduced by building resilient communities and preparedness capacities. As such, the TSU and MAB established their project based on an integrated, multi-sectoral and multi-hazard approach to coastal hazard preparedness that engages with communities throughout implementation. [For additional information about TSU/MAB, please see the project website here.]

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