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2 August 2011 –
Thirty-one countries are set to take part next week in a United Nations-backed test of the tsunami early warning system in the North-Eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean and connected seas, which have experienced strong seismic activity over the years, although less frequently than in the Pacific Ocean.The warning system was first established in 2005 by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) established under the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).The purpose of the exercise to be conducted on 10 August is “to ensure effective communication between regional and national centres and tsunami warning focal points,” according to a news release issued by UNESCO.
The exercise will include sending test messages via electronic mail, fax and the Global Telecommunication System from the Istanbul Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute (KOERI, Turkey) to all the national centres and tsunami warning focal points in the region.
By GILLIAN FLACCUS (AP) – 14 hours ago
HONOLULU — The warning was ominous, its predictions dire: Oceanographers issued a bulletin telling Hawaii and other Pacific islands that a killer wave was heading their way with terrifying force and that “urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property.”
But the devastating tidal surge predicted after Chile’s magnitude 8.8-earthquake for areas far from the epicenter never materialized. And by Sunday, authorities had lifted the warning after waves half the predicted size tickled the shores of Hawaii and tourists once again jammed beaches and restaurants.
Scientists acknowledged they overstated the threat but many defended their actions, saying they took the proper steps and learned the lessons of the 2004 Indonesian tsunami that killed thousands of people who didn’t get enough warning.
“It’s a key point to remember that we cannot under-warn. Failure to warn is not an option for us,” said Dai Lin Wang, an oceanographer at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii. “We cannot have a situation that we thought was no problem and then it’s devastating. That just cannot happen.”
Hundreds of thousands of people fled shorelines for higher ground Saturday in a panic that circled the Pacific Rim after scientists warned 53 nations and territories that a tsunami had been generated by the massive Chilean quake.
It was the largest-scale evacuation in Hawaii in years, if not decades. Emergency sirens blared throughout the day, the Navy moved ships out of Pearl Harbor, and residents hoarded gasoline, food and water in anticipation of a major disaster. Some supermarkets even placed limits on items like Spam because of the panic buying.
At least five people were killed by the tsunami on Robinson Crusoe Island off Chile’s coast and huge waves devastated the port city of Talcahuano, near hard-hit Concepcion on Chile’s mainland.
But the threat of monster waves that left Hawaii’s sun-drenched beaches empty for hours never appeared — a stark contrast to the tidal surge that killed 230,000 people around the Indian Ocean in 2004 and flattened entire communities.
More at: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jBrcBuf8vcRnbwe8MlMqRV1EnkOwD9E5LFTG1
This may be a little dated, but it looks like Maldives is implementing cell broadcast technology, in addition the article also mentions about an alert and warning system in Sri Lanka that is in place for a couple of years. The study mentioned in the article – ‘Mobile Cell Broadcasting for Commercial Use and Public Warning in the Maldives’ – is available online here.
Maldives to get early warning alerts via SMS
02 September 2009Facing increased threats triggered by climate change, Maldives will soon receive text based early warning alerts for disasters. Cell broadcasting, a technology will enable delivery of information to multiple users simultaneously in a specified area.
Texting short messages through mobile phones could help in early warning of natural disasters in the Maldives, says a new report.
The technology, called cell broadcasting, helps to deliver messages simultaneously to multiple users in a specified area.
In the case of the Maldives, if an early warning is introduced, it must be able to reach all of the outlying islands including tourists on resorts.
With mobile phones quite ubiquitous, it may be an ideal time to introduce an emerging technology — cell broadcasting — for public early warning,” says the report, ‘Mobile Cell Broadcasting for Commercial Use and Public Warning in the Maldives’, which was published last month (15 July).
More at: http://southasia.oneworld.net/ictsfordevelopment/maldives-to-get-early-warning-alerts-via-sms
Caribbean, International Partners Hone Tsunami Warning System
Enhanced seismic networks, tide gauges improve regional hazard detection
This is part two of a series about the tsunami early warning system in the Caribbean
By Cheryl Pellerin
Science Writer
Washington ― Frequent Caribbean earthquakes and concern about tsunamis prompted the island nations, the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) and neighbors, including the United States, to build on local experience with hurricanes and volcanoes to establish a regional warning system for tsunamis and other coastal hazards.
While no warning system can prevent naturally occurring hazards like earthquakes and storms, having an early warning system can minimize the loss of life and destruction that accompanies these hazardous events, giving people time to prepare.
The effort began in 2005. Today, the islands are protected by real-time seismic stations for detecting earthquakes, three deep-ocean detection systems (DARTs) for tsunami waves, and a growing number of stations for monitoring sea level. By the end of the year, the United States with the University of Hawaii Sea Level Center and the Puerto Rico Seismic Network will have installed 11 more sea-level stations in the region.
After the magnitude 9.0 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami that took 230,000 lives in 2004, the U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has helped enhance the Caribbean’s warning capacity, Jenifer Rhoades, tsunami program manager for NOAA’s National Weather Service, said in a recent interview.
With the U.S. Geological Survey [USGS], she said, “we enhanced the seismic network in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and we are working with the USGS and other international partners to enhance the seismic capability elsewhere in the Caribbean.”
With IOC oversight and coordination, and technical and financial help from many nations, initial seismic and tsunami warning systems are in place in the Pacific and continue to be improved in the Indian Ocean, the northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean, and the Caribbean.
