ITIC Homepage Slideshow
Tsunamis are rare. But they can be extremely deadly. November 5 is the UN World Tsunami Awareness Day. The theme this year is effective education and evacuation drills.
VIDEO: Great East Japan Tsunami 2011
VIDEO: PTWS Tsunami Warning
Remembering the 1945 Makran Tsunami - Interviews with Survivors Beside the Arabian Sea.
Surviving a Tsunami - Lessons from Chile, Hawaii, and Japan - UPDATE: English 2014 version.
http://itic.ioc-unesco.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1333&Itemid=2313&lang=en
Tsunami Glossary - Defines technical tsunami terms. (Arabic, Bahasa, English, French, Spanish).
http://itic.ioc-unesco.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1328&Itemid=1142&lang=en
Tsunami, The Great Waves - UPDATE: Spanish 2014 version. (English, Spanish, French, Chinese).
Tsunami Awareness Poster - English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Singalese and French.
http://itic.ioc-unesco.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1327&Itemid=2406&lang=en
Where the First Waves Arrive in Minutes - Lessons from eyewitness accounts of the tsunamis in 2004 and 2006.
http://itic.ioc-unesco.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1678&Itemid=1075&lang=en
VIDEO: ITIC International Training Programme (Caribbean) - Video summarizes trainings in 2013 and 2014
VIDEO: TsunamiTeacher USA - Learn the basics of tsunamis. (English, Samoan).
http://itic.ioc-unesco.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1755&Itemid=2420&lang=en
Hawaii Historical Tsunami Effects (1812-2015) poster.
Hawaii Historical Tsunami Runup Maps - Runups in the Hawaii for large, Pacific-wide, 20th & early 21st century tsunamis.
http://itic.ioc-unesco.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1647&Itemid=1434
EXERCISE PACIFIC WAVE, 15-17 FEBRUARY 2017 |
Exercise Pacific Wave 2017 (PacWave17) will be conducted 15-17 February 2017. The international exercise enables countries of the Pacific Tsunami Warning System to test their readiness for the next tsunami. The Pacific Regional Tsunami Service Providers (TSP), US Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) and Japan Northwest Pacific Tsunami Advisory Center (NWPTAC), will initiate each scenario with a live message to test international to national communications. Thereafter, each country should simulate the receipt of the TSP message products. This will be the second product testing of the new NWPTAC enhanced products, planned for official implementation in 2018.
PacWave17 includes six scenarios, enabling every country to practice a distant or regional event that will impact their country. The exercise is recommended to be a table-top exercise, but countries may also choose to conduct drills down to the local level and include community evacuations. The South China Sea Tsunami Advisory Center (SCSTAC), which plans to start operations in late 2017 or 2018, will also test their proposed products. Visit the PacWave17 web site for more information.
Centre Opérationnel Gouvernemental de Nouvelle-Calédonie during PacWave15. (Credit: DSCGR, New Caledonia)
WORLD TSUNAMI AWARENESS DAY - 05 NOVEMBER 2016 |
APRIL IS TSUNAMI AWARENESS MONTH IN HAWAII |
Click for more Hawaii information.
Download Hawaii Historical Tsunami Effects poster (NCEI, ITIC). 7.
This year is the 70th anniversary of the Mw8.6 April 1, 1946 Aleutian Island earthquake and tsunami. Until then, no one in the US would have imagined that a U.S. Coast Guard lighthouse tens of meters above sea level could be completely destroyed by a tsunami. Yet this is exactly what happened on April Fool’s Day – tsunami waves surged to 42-meter elevation at Scotch Cap about 48 minutes after the earthquake. All five lighthouse crew members were killed. The earthquake, initially assigned a magnitude of 7.4, was also one of the first earthquakes to be identified as a “tsunami earthquake,” as it had an exceptionally slow rupture and hence lower high-frequency seismic amplitudes.
In the far-field, the tele-tsunami was observed across the Pacific basin, and was especially destructive in Hawaii, where 17-meter waves killed 158 people statewide. Six to seven waves every 15-20 minutes pounded Hilo town on the island of Hawaii, causing heavy damage (USD $26 million), and 96 deaths.
To remember and sustain its readiness over time, Hawaii designated April as Tsunami Awareness Month in the 1990s. It continues today with tsunami partners at the federal, state, and local levels working together to ensure public preparedness.
The devastating effects, and the fact that high-frequency ground shaking could not be used as a natural warning sign, led the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey to install an earthquake alarm system to notify the staff at any hour of the day. Tsunami travel time maps were completed to quickly determine Hawaii arrival times from Pacific sources. A communication plan was put into place for receiving seismic data from multiple Coast and Geodetic Observatories to locate the earthquake, and for receiving tsunami observations from tide station observers around the Pacific to confirm a tsunami.
The U.S. Seismic Sea Wave Warning System started on August 12, 1948 at the Honolulu Observatory. The system was able to determine a tsunami’s severity before it hit Hawaii, and therefore provide warnings, or cancel watches before actual evacuations had to take place. The SSWWS was in action soon after as destructive tsunami hit the Hawaiian Islands in 1952 (Kamchatka), 1957 (Andreanof Islands), 1960 (Chile), and 1964 (Prince William Sound).
In 1965, the International Tsunami Warning System in the Pacific (ITSU, now PTWS) was established in response to the M9.5 Chile earthquake, and the US offered to expand its tsunami services to include the Pacific. Today, the PTWC provides tsunami warnings for the state of Hawaii, as well as other US insular interests in the Pacific and Caribbean, and serves as a Tsunami Service Provider issuing timely international threat information to Pacific and Caribbean countries.
02 MARCH 2016, M7.8 SOUTHWEST OF SUMATRA, INDONESIA EARTHQUAKE |
The M7.8, shallow, Indian Ocean earthquake generated a small tsunami that was recorded on Indian Ocean coastal sea level gauges in Australia (Cocos, Christmas Islands), Indonesia (Tanahbala), Maldives (Gan, Male, Hanimadhoo), and Mauritius (Rodrigues Island). The maximum wave amplitude was 12 cm at Tanahbala.
The USGS reported the earthquake occurred at 12:49 UTC, 4.908 °S 94.275 °E, with a depth of 24.0 km (14.9 mi), roughly in the center of the Cocos Basin, and 600 km southwest of the Sunda-Java Trench off Sumatra, northern Indonesia. This intraplate earthquake had a strike-slip faulting mechanism, which rarely generates dangerous tsunamis (see PTWC RIFT forecast below). In contrast, shallow thrust faulting in subduction zones can cause destructive tsunamis, such as the M9.1 2004 Sumatra earthquake that generated 40-m tsunami runups locally, and propagated across the Indian Ocean killing 228,000 in 15 countries.
Public exchange bulletins were issued by the UNESCO IOC Indian Ocean Tsunami Service Providers (TSP) in India (12:56 – 15:23 UTC, 3 bulletins), and Indonesia (13:19 – 15:53 UTC, 4 bulletins). TSP Exchange bulletins to IOTWMS National Tsunami Warning Centers (NTWC) were issued by Australia (13:06 – 16:57, 7 bulletins), India (12:55 – 15:17, 3 bulletins), and Indonesia (12:49 - 15:53, 4 bulletins).
In April 2013, Australia, India and Indonesia assumed responsibility as the official TSPs for the Indian Ocean. Interim services were provided by the PTWC and JMA from 2005-2013. The TSPs provide tsunami alerts directly to country NTWCs, and each country uses the advice to assess and issue warnings and advisories to their populations. Public bulletins are currently available from the India and Indonesia TSPs.
Indonesia’s National Tsunami Warning Center (BMKG InaTEWS) issued its first bulletin in less than 5 minutes, the second bulletin in less than 10 minutes, and the fourth bulletin (ending of its national tsunami warning) after about 2 hour 40 minutes. Based on television reports, the UNESCO’s Indian Ocean Tsunami Information Center indicated that while there was confusion and panic in the community, it was better than in 2012. Some issues with the media television broadcast of the warning were noted, and are now being discussed with the National Commission for Broadcasters. Persons in Padang, West Sumatera, Mentawai Island, and Muko muko-Bengkulu evacuated, some self-evacuating, and many waiting for the local BMKG in Padang for clarification. Television reported some persons went to the beach to monitor the receding seawater. Unconfirmed reports indicate that a siren was triggered on Mentawai Island after people self-evacuated.
PTWC RIFT model forecasts (deep-ocean tsunami wave amplitudes) showing the direction of greatest tsunami energy (reds and yellows). Depending on the mechanism, significantly different tsunami forecasts are computed. Left: Small waves are forecast, requiring no tsunami warning, using the actual 02 March 2016 W-phase CMT earthquake solution (strike-slip fault mechanism). Right: Large waves, requiring a tsunami warning, would be forecast if a thrust fault mechanism was assumed. (Credit: PTWC)
In 11 April 2012, two large (M8.6, M8.2) strike-slip earthquakes generated small Indian Ocean tsunamis reported in Indonesia, Australia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, with measurements of up to 1.1 m in Indonesia 395 km west of the epicenter; the M8.6 earthquake was the largest strike-slip event ever recorded. The 2012 earthquakes occurred just north of the 02 March 2016 event.
5th ANNIVERSARY, 11 March 2016 GREAT EAST JAPAN EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI, 11 March 2011 |
Today is the 5th anniversary of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. At 1446 Japan local time on 11 March 2011, a M9.0 earthquake occurred off the northeastern coast of Honshu, Japan, that generated a devasting tsunami. Total damage was estimated at USD $220 billion, making it the most expensive disaster in history. It was the largest magnitude earthquake ever in Japan and is the 4th largest in the world since 1900. In many coastal towns, waves flooded to at least the 3rd or 4th floor of buildings. Over 18000 persons lost their lives - nearly all from the relentless tsunami waves. The Japan Meteorological Agency issued its 1st tsunami warning in three minutes, updated it after 28 minutes, and continued its danger advisories for over 2 days.
500,000 houses were completely or partial destroyed, and about 500,000 people displaced. 98% of the damage was due to the tsunami. 7,600 houses were destroyed by earthquake ground shaking and 19,000 damaged by liquefaction. After the earthquake, there were 345 fires in 12 prefectures. Infrastructure damage included 4,198 parts of roads, 116 bridges, and 29 parts of the railway. The earthquake and tsunami also caused a nuclear disaster in Fukushima with an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) rating of 7 that included equipment failures, explosions.
The tsunami was observed throughout the Pacific, and in Japan, at over 60 Japanese tide stations as well as a dozen ocean bottom pressure gauges, and another dozen GPS wave gauges. The tsunami was first observed along the Sanriku coast about 30 minutes after the earthquake and at the Sendai plain about 30 minutes later. The maximum wave height of 38.9 meters was determined from Japanese field surveys by a team of approximately 300 researchers that documented tsunami impacts along a 2,000 kilometer stretch of Japan’s Pacific coast that inundated 561 km2 of land. On the Sendai Plain, the maximum water level height was 19.5 meters. The tsunami flooded more than 5 kilometers inland from the coast, and as much as 15 km inland at rivers.
The 2011 Great East Japan earthquake generated a great tsunami that went far beyond any of the pre-disaster expectations. This earthquake and tsunami, along with the 2004 Sumatra earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean, has since caused scientists and policy-makers all over the world to reconsider their earthquake and tsunami hazard assumptions and preparedness measures.
For more information of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, click HERE
EXERCISE PACIFIC WAVE 2016, 1-5 February 2016 |
PacWave16 is the 6th ICG/PTWS International Tsunami Exercise to be conducted in the Pacific since the inaugural 2006 basin-wide exercise. The exercise will be conducted from 1-5 February 2016 as a regional exercise for the sixteen countries that receive tsunami products from Japan's Northwest Pacific Tsunami Advisory Center's (NWPTAC). The exercise will introduce and seek feedback on the enhanced text and graphical forecast products of the NWPTAC. Official implementation is expected in 2018, and follows from the 2014 implementation of enhanced graphical forecast products by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC). Six scenarios are available to allow countries to select a destructive distant or regional source.
Visit the PacWave16 web site for more info.
16 SEPTEMBER 2015, M8.3 CHILE EARTHQUAKE AND TSUNAMI |
The 16 September 2015 magnitude 8.3 Mw Northern Chile earthquake (31.570°S, 71.654°W, depth 25 km) occurred at 2254:33 UTC and generated a tsunami that was observed all over the Pacific region and caused damage locally. According to news reports, more than 1 million persons immediately evacuated in Chile. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) issued its 1st advisory information at 2300 UTC, and continued issuing threat information messages for the next 24 hours with the Final message issued at 2305 UTC on September 17. A 4.75 m high tsunami wave was measured on the Coquimbo, Chile sea level gauge, and 1-2 m high waves were measured elsewhere in Chile.
In October 2014, the PTWC implemented new enhanced tsunami products for the Pacific. The real-time forecasts are available ~30 min after the earthquake. The suite of alert guidance now includes tsunami wave height forecasts in both text and graphical formats. The JMA Northwest Pacific Advisory Center plans to update its products in 2018.
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Visit the EVENT PAGE for more info.
PTWS 50th Book |
To continue to sustain awareness on the dangers of tsunamis, and to educate the public on how the Pacific Tsunami Warning System works to alert the public of an approaching tsunami, the ITIC and NGDC, with support from the US Tsunami Program, has published a book to document the “Pacific Tsunami Warning System (1965-2015): A Half-Century of Protecting the Pacific.
The book includes reflections from involved participants and countries, important tsunamis and events, a history of warning evolution, and a chronicle of scientific and technological development and innovation supporting warning and response, provides a foundation of activities and accomplishments upon which to build for the future. The compilations contained can serve as both a reminder of past successes, and a roadmap for the challenges ahead.
Click HERE for more info
Tsunami Warning! video |
To sustain awareness on the dangers of tsunamis, and to educate the public on how the PTWS works to disseminate alerts on approaching tsunami, the ITIC, in cooperation with Chile, produced this 6-minute outreach video. The aim of the video is to strengthen public and stakeholder agency knowledge of, and confidence in, tsunami alerts that save lives and reduce property damage.
Click HERE for more info
50 years of Tsunami Warning in the Pacific (1965-2015) - 20-24 April 2015 |
2015 marks 50 years since the establishment of the International Tsunami Warning System in the Pacific, in response to the 1960 M9.5 Chile earthquake and tsunami that killed 100s, without warning, across the Pacific. The System has evolved and been built up over the decades with contributions from countries and organizations under the framework of the IOC of UNESCO. Working together, today's System provides timely tsunami forecasts to all countries of the Pacific and its marginal seas. In April, Hawaii and the USA hosted 2 events to both recognize past achievements and forge new priorities for continually improving mitigation and promoting community resiliency to tsunamis. The IOC, IUGG, and US sponsored the International Symposium "Making the Pacific Ready for the Next Tsunami" on 20-21 April 2015 at the new NOAA Inouye Regional Center on Ford Island, Oahu, and this was followed by the 26th Session of the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Pacific Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG/PTWS) on 22-24 April 2015 in Waikiki, Oahu, Hawaii. For more information, visit www.ptws50.info
Recent events, in brief: