2nd Integrated Intersessional Meetings of ICG/IOTWMS

At its 11th session, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 18-20 April 2017, the Intergovernmental Coordination Group (ICG) for the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (IOTWMS) decided to hold integrated intersessional meetings of the Working Groups, Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) workshops, post-Indian Ocean Wave (IOWave) workshops and Indian Ocean Tsunami Information Centre (IOTIC) workshops to optimise resources. The first integrated meetings were held in Jakarta, Indonesia during September 2017 and the second integrated meetings were held in Hyderabad, India during June 26 - July 14, 2018.

The second Integrated intersessional meetings were hosted by the Government of India through the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) and facilitated by IOTIC, UNESCO-Jakarta Office and the ICG/IOTWMS Secretariat. The Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Earth Science, Dr. Rajeevan M. Nair inaugurated the meetings. The meetings were attended by 66 participants and experts from 16 Countries (Australia, Bangladesh, Comoros, Germany, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Myanmar, Oman, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand and United Kingdom) and 1 UN agency. 

 The meetings comprised the following back-to-back events:

• Training on Tsunami Emergency Maps, Plans and Procedures (TEMPP-2)
• Intersessional Meeting of the Working Group 1 on Tsunami Risk, Community Awareness and Preparedness
• Intersessional Meeting of the Working Group 2 on Tsunami Detection, Warning and Dissemination
• Intersessional Meeting of the Task Team on Indian Ocean Wave 2018 (IOWave18)
• Intersessional Meeting of the Task Team on Capacity Assessment for Tsunami Preparedness
• Intersessional meeting of the Subregional Working Group for the North West Indian Ocean
• Training on Tsunami Warning Centre Operations and Standard Operating Procedures for Tsunami Warning and Emergency Response

TEMPP-2 training, held during 26 June to 5 July 2018, is the second in a series of trainings organised by the IOC at the request of IOTWMS Member States to facilitate piloting the Indian Ocean Tsunami Ready programme. Participants of TEMPP-2 were trained on evacuation planning based on inundation models and were responsible for the development of the tsunami evacuation maps, plans and procedures.

The training on Tsunami Warning Centre Operations and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for tsunami warning and emergency response was held on 10–14 July 2018. The training enabled ICG/IOTWMS Member States to develop integrated end-to-end SOPs for tsunami warning and emergency response and Disaster Management Organisations to develop SOPs for implementing national and local responses to tsunami warnings issued by the National Tsunami Warning Centres.

Training on Tsunami Warning Centre Operations and Standard Operating Procedures for Tsunami Warning and Emergency Response. Left-hand-side: Participants learning at the International Training Centre for Operational Oceanography, INCOIS; Right-hand-side: On-site field instruction on seismometer installation.  

Furthermore, both trainings enhanced capacities of Member States to participate in the IOWave18 Exercise scheduled for 4–5 September 2018.

The Working Group and Task Teams had the opportunity to assess achievements during the intersessional period and outstanding activities against their work plans leading up to ICG/IOTWMS-XII, to be held at Kish Island, Iran during 03-06 March 2019. Key activities included drafting the online Capacity Assessment Survey questionnaire, updating TSP Service definition document, formulating the IOTWMS Medium term strategy, and progressing seismic data sharing in the North West Indian Ocean region.

More information is available on the meeting website.