PARIS, September 5- A decade after the strongest tsunami
in living memory, 24 countries spanning from Australia to South Africa will
take part in a UN backed simulation exercise next week to test their capacity
to forecast and tackle similar disasters.
The exercise, organized by UNESCO, will simulate a 9.1
magnitude earthquake south of the Indonesian island of Java beginning September
9.
A second 9.0-magnitude quake will be simulated at the Makran
Trench south of Iran and Pakistan.
“Both scenarios will simulate tsunami waves travelling
across the Indian Ocean,” UNESCO said in a statement.
The test is designed to examine an Indian Ocean tsunami
warning system put in place after the December 24, 2004 disaster which killed
over 230,000 people, displaced more than one million people, and left a massive
trail of destruction along the coasts of the affected countries.
It will check the efficiency of communication flows between
the 24 countries, general readiness and the efficiency of emergency procedures.
Many of the countries involved will also stage evacuation
exercises for coastal populations.
An evaluation will be conducted after the exercise to
identify gaps and weaknesses in the system.
The participating countries are Australia, Bangladesh,
Comoros, East Timor, the French overseas department of La Reunion, India,
Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique,
Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Seychelles, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka,
Tanzania, Thailand and Yemen
Indian Ocean-wide tsunami exercise to test readiness ten
years after the 2004 disaster
Ten years after the strongest tsunami in living memory in
2004, 24 countries of the Indian Ocean Rim* will participate in a large scale
simulation exercise organized under the auspices of the Intergovernmental
Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO on 9 and 10 September to test the Indian
Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System. The goal is to measure the
capacity and response times of the various stakeholders involved to address
such rare but potentially destructive events.
The exercise, known as “IOWAVE14”, will comprise two
scenarios: the first simulates an earthquake with a magnitude of 9.1 south of
Java, Indonesia, on 9 September (00:00 UTC); the second simulates an earthquake
with a magnitude of 9.0 in the Makran Trench south of Iran and Pakistan. Both
scenarios will simulate tsunami waves travelling across the Indian Ocean. The
exercise will be conducted in real time. The Indian Ocean Regional Tsunami Service
Providers (Australia, India and Indonesia) will issue notification messages to
National Tsunami Warning Centres alerting them to the simulated threats.
The test is designed to assess the effectiveness of communication
flows between the stakeholders involved, country readiness and the efficiency
of emergency procedures. Several countries will also include public evacuation
exercises of coastal populations. An evaluation will be conducted after the
exercise to identify gaps and weaknesses so as to improve the System.
The Indian Ocean nations called for the establishment of an
Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (IOTWS) in the wake of the
2004 catastrophe. An Intergovernmental Coordination Group was established with
the support of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO to
provide a governance mechanism for the new System, which became operational in
2011.
*To date: Australia, Bangladesh, Comoros, France (Réunion),
India, , Iran,Tanzania, Kenya, Madagascar, IndonesiaMalaysia, Maldives, Mauritius,
Mozambique, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Seychelles, Singapore, South Africa, Sri
Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Yemen.
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