Saturday, 6 September 2014

Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System

The Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG/IOTWS) was formed in response to the tragic tsunami on December 26th 2004, in which over 250,000 lives were lost around the Indian Ocean region. The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO) received a mandate from the international community to coordinate the establishment of the System during the course of several international and regional meetings, including the World Conference on Disaster Reduction (Kobe, Japan, 18 – 22 January 2005), and the Phuket Ministerial Meeting on Regional Cooperation on Tsunami Early Warning Arrangements (Phuket, Thailand, 28 and 29 January 2005). The IOC Assembly, during its twenty-third Session (21-30 June 2005), formally established the ICG/IOTWS through Resolution IOC-XXIII-12.
Chairperson
Mr Rick Bailey (Australia)
Vice-Chairpersons
Dr Prih Harjadi (Indonesia)
Working Groups
The Intergovernmental Coordination Group meets regularly to establish and implement working plans in the Indian Ocean region. To address specific technical issues it has formed three working groups and two task teams:
Working Group 1 - Tsunami Risk Assessment and Reduction - Chair: Dr Sam Hettiarachchi(University of Moratuwa, Department of Civil Engineering, Sri Lanka)
Working Group 2 - Tsunami Detection, Warning and Dissemination - Chair: Dr Satheesh Shenoi (Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, India)
Working Group 3 - Tsunami Awareness and Response - Chair: Dr Harkunti Rahayu (Research Center for Oceanography; Indonesian Institute of Sciences, Indonesia)
Secretariat
The Secretariat for the ICG/IOTWS is based in the IOC-UNESCO Regional Programme Office in Perth, Western Australia and is hosted by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. 
Head of Secretariat: Mr Tony Elliott
Secretariat Support: Ms Nora Gale
Phone: +618 9226 0191
Email: iotws@unesco.org 


ICG/IOTWS Membership
According to IOC Resolution XXIII-12 membership in ICG/IOTWS includes:

- Member States of the IOC bordering the Indian Ocean.

- Observers from other IOC Member States.

- Invited observers from other organizations (including NGO’s), programmes and projects in accordance with the IOC rules and procedures.
Member States establish Tsunami National Contacts that represent the country in the coordination of international tsunami warning and mitigation activities. 

Tsunami National Contacts (TNCs)
The person designated by an ICG Member State government to represent his/her country in the coordination of international tsunami warning and mitigation activities. The person is part of the main stakeholders of the national tsunami warning and mitigation system program. The person may be the Tsunami Warning Focal Point, from the national disaster management organization, from a technical or scientific institution, or from another agency with tsunami warning and mitigation responsibilities.

Australia
Bangladesh
British Indian Ocean Territory
TNC not established
Comoros
Djibouti
TNC not established
France
India
Indonesia
Iran
Kenya
Madagascar
Maldives
Mauritius
Mr Suresh Chandra Seeballuck, Prime Minister’s Office
Mozambique
Myanmar
Oman
Pakistan
Seychelles
Mr Alain De Comarmond, Department of Risk and Disaster Management
Singapore
Somalia
TNC not established
South Africa
Sri Lanka
Tanzania
Thailand
Timor-Leste
Mr Francisco Do Rosario, National Disaster Management Directorate
United Arab Emirates
TNC not established
Yemen

Mr Majed Al-Refai, Yemen Ministry of Water and Environment

No comments:

Post a Comment