North-Eastern Atlantic, Mediterranean and connected seas
Tsunami Information Centre
End to End TEWS
In response to the tragic tsunami on 26 December 2004, in which over 250,000 lives were lost around the Indian Ocean region, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (UNESCO/IOC) received a mandate from the international community to coordinate the establishment of an Intergovernmental Coordination Group (ICG) for each region: the Caribbean, the Atlantic and Mediterranean basins and the Indian Ocean, to guide the development of tsunami warning centres in those areas.
An end-to-end tsunami warning system begins with the rapid detection of a tsunami wave and ends with a well prepared community that is capable of responding appropriately to a warning. An effective end-to-end tsunami early warning system could save thousands of lives in a tsunami event.
The operation of a tsunami warning centre is a vital part of an end-to-end tsunami warning system. A tsunami warning centre is not only involved in acquiring and processing data for detecting a tsunami, but also in formulating and disseminating tsunami warnings and connecting with communities at risk to ensure that they understand the warning and have the capacity to respond.
End to End TEWS
Source: U.S. Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System Program (US IOTWS). 2007. Tsunami Warning Center. Reference Guide supported by the United States Agency for International Development and partners, Bangkok, Thailand. 311 p.
Videos Library
This video library aims at sharing the knowledge produced in the field of disaster risk management and tsunamis.
A Guide to tsunamis for hotels : tsunami evacuation procedures
Manuals and guides; 69
Tsunami preparedness civil protection: good practices guide
Manuals and guides; 65
SC-2013/WS/7
Coastal managment approaches for sea-level related hazards: case studies and good practices
Manuals and guides; 61
Third Multi-Hazard Early Warning Conference: Scaling Up action: Every Person on Earth Protected by Early Warning Systems within Five Years
The Third Multi-Hazard Early Warning Conference (MHEWCIII) was held in Bali, Indonesia from 23 to 24 May at the Bali International Convention Centre (BICC) as a preparatory event for the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction. Its theme was “From Stock Take to Scaling Actions on Target G: Accelerating the Knowledge and Practice of Early Warning Systems for Risk-Informed Resilience". An Organizing Committee composed of committed partners drawn from the International Network, including IOC UNESCO for Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (IN-MHEWS) planned and organized the MHEWS-III Conference. Denis Chang Seng, IOC UNESCO Programme Specialist delivered a keynote presentation on Tsunami Early Warning and Mitigation System: Progress, Gaps and Opportunities in the opening session on the State of Play on Early Warning Systems: Progress on target G – Early Warning Access: Regional and Thematic Expert Perspective. IOC UNESCO and WMO also co-organized a session. Are our early warning systems effective? The MHEWS-III conference welcomed the UN's new action and ambitious challenge to ensure every person on Earth is protected by Early Warning Systems within five years and WMO to lead this effort and present an action plan to achieve this goal at the next UN climate conference, later this year in Egypt.
IOC UNESCO and WMO also co-organized a session on 'Are our early warning systems effective? The session panelists emphasized that the effectiveness of EWS is ultimately measured and valued if it saves lives, reduces the impact on livelihood, as well as minimizes disruptions to critical services. The session also discussed best practices, needs, challenges, and limitations as well as the new approaches and methodologies to measure the effectiveness of MHEWS. Effective EWS should consider multiple hazards, cascading and concurrent events, vulnerabilities, and capacities of the communities at risk, and should be gender-sensitive and inclusive. The session highlighted that the effectiveness of MHEWS is challenged by the rapidly changing risk landscape driven by climate change and business as usual development pathways. The recent disasters and COVID-19 pandemic have demonstrated not only the challenges but also the limitations of existing MHEWS. These costly hazards, overlapping with other biological hazards such as pandemics, are setting back development gains. Effective EWS integrate research and policy, enables good governance, public engagement and decision making, and is flexible to adapt to the changing risk landscape.
Priorities identified for scaling-up action within the thematic area include: strengthening coordination and collaboration across all stakeholders by creating support mechanisms to overcome silos and territorialism, developing MHEWS that address unique vulnerabilities and needs of different groups and have anticipatory actions that range from local to international scale, and developing warnings that is rooted in long-term social processes and factors local and indigenous knowledge systems.
Denis Chang Seng also participated as a panellist in another session on Innovation: The Next Generation of Forecasting and Warning Systems.
Mr Cyrille Honoré, Director, Disaster Risk Reduction and Public Services Branch, Services Department, World Meteorological Organization presented the MHEWS-III Conference outcome statement at the GPDRR session on Early Warning and Early Action (EWEA)on the 27 May.
The aims of the MHEWS-III Conference were
- to 'Take stock' of progress in the implementation of Target G of the Sendai Framework.
- Report on the latest trends in MHEWS design, results, and impact and share knowledge, lessons learned, and emerging examples of good practices as captured in the joint UN Words into Action (WiA) on MHEWS publication
- Identify gaps and challenges in practice, policy and scienceto be addressed in future work
- Promote coordination and collaboration among MHEWS stakeholders and identify synergies with other initiatives and partnerships on early warning and action
More than 2000 participants registered for the hybrid event which was officially opened by WMO Secretary-General Prof. Petteri Taalas, UN Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction Mami Mizutori and Prof. Dwikorita Karnawati, head of the Indonesian weather agency, BMKG.
Underwater volcanoes: exceptional images filmed in the Mediterranean
Enhancing and Scaling up Actions for Resilient and Safer Coast Discussed/Highlighted at the African Conference on Priority Setting and Partnership Development for the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science.
The Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Tsunami Early Warning and Mitigation System in the North-Eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean and Connected Seas (ICG/NEAMTWS) in partnership with the National Institute in Oceanography and Fisheries (NIOF, Egypt) organized a side event on “Resilient and Safer Coasts” at the kickoff African Conference on Priority Setting and Partnership Development for the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development on 11 May 2022 in Cairo, Egypt. The side event brought together key figures including Mr Vladimir Ryabinin, Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO); Mr Mohamed Taher Elsherief, Governor of Alexandria, Egypt; Mr Bernardo Aliaga, Head of Tsunami Section of IOC-UNESCO; Mr Denis Chang Seng, ICG/NEAMTWS Technical Secretary; Ms Derya Vennin, CoastWAVE Associate Project Officer; Ms Maria Ana Baptistia, ICG/NEAMTWS Chair; Mr Amr Hamouda, President of NIOF; and Peter Billing, Head of unit at the European Union Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO). Mr Mohamed Taher Elsherief stated “We need to unite efforts to find solutions to the main challenges facing the oceans and contribute in limiting climate change in the effect of sea level rise and marine natural hazards that affects the shores of the coastal cities like Alexandria” in reference to United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030) and the societal outcome of a “Safe Ocean”.
Stage of the “Resilient and Safer Coasts” African Ocean side event, Egypt, Cairo. Participants from left to right: Ms Derya Vennin, Mr Denis Chang Seng, Ms Elena Daskalaki, Mr Ahmet Cevdet Yalçıner, and Mr Mohamed Taher Elsherief.
The “Resilient and Safer Coasts” side event provided a platform for an interactive and engaging dialogue on sea level related hazards, risks and emerging challenges. It showcased how to scale-up approaches and actions for resilient and safer coasts in the North African and South Mediterranean countries. Experts from the region, Mr Alessandro Amato, National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), Italy; Ms Elena Daskalaki, National Observatory of Athens (NOA), Greece; Mr Ahmet Cevdet Yalçıner, Middle East Technical University (METU), Turkey; Mr Khalid El Khalidi, Chouaïb Doukkali University (CDU), Morocco; and Mr Ignacio Aguirre Ayerbe, Environmental Hydraulics Institute of the University of Cantabria (IHCantabria), Spain including those from the Indian Ocean shared their experiences on how to contribute to the United Nations (UN) Ocean Decade: Resilient and Safer Coasts in the Mediterranean and North African region. The event highlighted the ongoing efforts concerning the development of a new UN Ocean Decade Tsunami Programme (ODTP) and strategies that will shape tsunami risk governance, and disaster risk reduction, including the new ICG/NEAMTWS 2030 Strategy.
Under the ODTP framework a Scientific Committee (SC) has been assembled to prepare the 10-Year Research, Development and Implementation Plan for the Ocean Decade Tsunami Programme, with the aim of making 100% of communities at risk of tsunami prepared for and resilient to tsunamis by 2030, through the implementation of the IOC-UNESCO “Tsunami Ready Recognition Programme (TRRP)” and other initiatives. The side event sought to engage and inspire communities prone to tsunami risk, to become Tsunami Ready.
The event provided an opportunity to show case the joint IOC-UNESCO and EU DG ECHO “CoastWAVE Project”, Mr Denis Chang Seng expressed that CoastWAVE “will enhance and scale-up actions though new technological detection, monitoring and alerts systems, as well as through Tsunami Ready Recognized Communities in several countries in North Africa and the Mediterranean region”. Ms Derya Vennin built on this statement and informed that “Inexpensive Device for Sea-level measurements (IDSL) and Tsunami Alerting Devices (TAD) will be installed and maintained to monitor, detect, and alert tsunamis in nominated communities of the CoastWAVE Project. While IDSLs will help quantifying hazard and exposure to risk of tsunamis, TADs will provide the necessary warnings for people to protect themselves and initiate emergency procedures”. The CoastWAVE project target is to have seven IOC-UNESCO Tsunami Ready Recognized communities by 2023 including two from the North African Mediterranean region: Morocco (El Jadida) and Egypt (Alexandria). About the role of NIOF/Egypt, Mr Amr Hamouda declared, “NIOF/Egypt wants to build capacity in tsunami and better communicate about coastal hazards for safer coast. We need to have a plan to save many people, especially with increasing traffic as a challenge”. The CoastWAVE project is in the process of receiving endorsement as a UN Ocean Decade project.
The side event brought young professionals from the region to capture how they are inspired to contribute to achieving an effective Tsunami Early Warning and Mitigation System (TEWS), risk reduction and a Safe Ocean. The young professionals, Ms Claire Jaffrézic, ICG/NEAMTWS Intern, France; Ms Imane Joudar, CDU, Morocco; Mr Mohamed Salah Hassan, researcher at NIOF, Egypt; and Ms Gözde Güney Doğan, METU, Turkey added their voice and aspirations to this endeavor. A key message to all stakeholders present in the event conveyed that strengthened partnerships collaborations, research, sciences, data sharing and community based tools are critical to advance TEWS, build resilience and coastal safety.
The 10-Year Research, Development and Implementation Plan for the Ocean Decade Tsunami Programme High on the Agenda at the ICG/NEAMTWS Steering Committee
The Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Tsunami Early Warning and Mitigation System in the North-Eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean and Connected Seas (ICG/NEAMTWS) held its Steering Committee meeting online on the 8 and 11 April 2022. Key issues discussed included the progress in implementation of the joint IOC-UNESCO European Union Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO), CoastWAVE Project, the ongoing work on sea-level related risk perception survey, the 10-Year Research, Development and Implementation Plan for the Ocean Decade Tsunami Programme, new impetus to update the ICG/NEAMTWS Operational User Guide, as well as ongoing efforts to organize a side event at the African Conference on Priority Setting & Partnership Development for the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, among others.
Figure 1. Marsaxlokk, Malta. One of the seven NEAM municipalities supported by the CoastWAVE Project.
The Steering Committee provided a progress update of the CoastWAVE project. The official kick-off meeting of the CoastWAVE project took place on 17 and 20 December 2021 with the participation of project country Focal Points. Members were informed that two new staff have been recruited: an Associate Project Officer and a Project Assistance will support the implementation of the project.
The Secretariat organized a meeting on 5 and 13 April 2022 with members of the Task Team on Tsunami Ready, Working Group 4 on Public Awareness, Preparedness and Mitigation, and the country Focal Points of the CoastWAVE project to elaborate on a CoastWAVE activity focusing on Coastal Multi-Hazard and Risk Perception Survey to be carried out in selected project countries to better understand how coastal populations perceive tsunamis, storm flooding and sea-level rise hazards and risks. The findings will help develop recommendations regarding enhancing risk communication strategies and educational products in the region.
The Task Team on Documentation Co-Chairs, Mr Nikos Kalligeris and Mr Stefano Lorito have started to update the 2011 Interim Operational Users Guide (IOUC, 2011).
The meeting informed that the ICG/NEAMTWS Secretariat is organizing a side event on Resilient and Safer Coasts at the kickoff African Conference on Priority Setting and Partnership Development for the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development from 10-12 May 2022 in Cairo, Egypt. The Secretariat is also planning to have a meeting in June 2022 to discuss and familiarize ICG/NEAMTWS Member States with the new Tsunami Ready Guidelines and tools. The ICG/NEAMTWS aims to continue the strong partnership with the United Nations Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) for the commemoration of World Tsunami Awareness Day on 5 November 2022. The theme this year will focus on the Sendai Framework global target G to “Substantially increase the availability of and access to multi‑hazard early warning systems and disaster risk information and assessments to the people by 2030”.
The Steering Committee also addressed the key outcomes and recommendations of the TOWS-WG-XV meeting which took place in February 2022. Key topics discussed include the Ocean Decade Tsunami Programme (ODTP) Scientific Committee (SC), Tsunami Ready Coalition, the newly formed Ad Hoc Team on Meteo-tsunamis and Ad Hoc Team on Tsunamis Generated by Volcanoes and the Tsunami Symposium. A Terms of Reference has been prepared for the Ocean Decade Tsunami Programme Scientific Committee and a timeline proposal to prepare the 10-Year Research, Development and Implementation Plan for the Ocean Decade Tsunami Programme. The newly formed Ad Hoc Teams will review and advise on gaps related to meteo-tsunami monitoring and warning systems and identify methodologies to monitor and detect volcanic sources of tsunamis.
The Steering Committee discussed the next ICG/NEAMTWS Session. Italy had provisionally offered to host the session in the city of Erice, Sicily with a pending date of early December 2022, to be agreed upon in the upcoming weeks. The ICG/NEAMTWS Steering Committee was attended by 22 participants.
Seventeenth Session of the ICGNEAMTWS : Ten Tsunami Ready Recognized Communities by 2023
The Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Tsunami Early Warning and Mitigation System in the North-Eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean and Connected Seas (ICG/NEAMTWS) held its 17th session of the ICG/NEAMTWS online between 24-26 November 2021. Despite the ongoing health pandemic, important progress has been achieved during the inter-sessional period. The Group welcomed the approval of a new IOC European Union DG-ECHO (European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations) NEAMTWS project on “Strengthening the Resilience of Coastal Communities in the North-Eastern Atlantic, Mediterranean Region to the Impact of Tsunamis and Other Sea Level-Related Coastal Hazards. The project will help drive and shape the establishment and enhancement of tsunami early warning systems in several countries. An important milestone reported is the finalization of a new ICG/NEAMTWS 2021-2030 Strategy in line with the UN Ocean Science Decade for Sustainable Development. The Group encouraged Member States and partners to contribute to its implementation. Another key achievement is the successful results of the fourth tsunami exercise for the region, NEAMWave21 conducted between 8-10 March 2021 and the major increase in media interest.
First tsunami end-to-end exercise, 5 Nov 2021, Marsaxlokk, Malta Source: Denis Chang Seng
There is also continued national efforts in several countries to increase awareness on tsunami hazards and preparedness in line with and as contributions to the World Tsunami Awareness Day, 5 November 2021, and the tsunami exercises conducted in France and Malta. There is progress made by communities of Bouches-du-Rhône and Cannes (France); Kos (Greece); Israel; Minturno, Pachino, Palmi (Italy); Marsaxlokk (Malta); Azores, Cascais, Lagos, Lisboa, Madeira, Portimão, Setúbal (Portugal); Chipiona (Spain), Bodrum and Istanbul (Turkey) towards becoming Tsunami Ready and prepared. A new Task Team on Tsunami Ready was also established at the ICG/NEAMTWS-XVII session.
Another accomplishment is the study prepared by the Secretariat on Coastal Multi-Hazard Risk Perception, Resilience and Survey Questionnaires to contribute to the implementation of the new project concerning understanding and communication strategies of tsunami and other sea-level related risks. The session also appreciated the support of the European Commission (EC) and the Joint Research Centre (JRC), especially for the Last Mile Project Phase 2 implemented in Malta, and the support provided to the organisation of the first end-to-end tsunami exercise on 5 November 2021.
The Group set a target to establish at least ten Tsunami Ready recognized communities in Mediterranean countries in the next two years, contributing to making 100% of communities at risk of tsunami prepared for and resilient to tsunamis by 2030 through the implementation of the UNESCO/IOC Tsunami Ready Programme and other initiatives.
The session decided to organize and conduct the NEAMWave 23 tsunami exercise within the first week of the World Tsunami Awareness Day, 5 November 2023. The Seventeenth Session of the ICG/NEAMTWS was attended by around 78 participants from 16 member countries and a few observers.
The Seventh Session of the Global Platform For Disaster Risk Reduction (GP2022)
The Seventh Session of the Global Platform For Disaster Risk Reduction (GP2022) will be organized by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) from 23 to 28 May, 2022 in Bali, Indonesia.
This global forum is an avenue to share knowledge and discuss the latest developments and trends in reducing disaster risk. The GP2022 will be attended by governments, the UN system and all relevant stakeholders to address the agenda guided by the Sendai Framework goal, priorities for action and targets, the key priorities identified at the previous Global Platform held in Geneva, Switzerland in 2019 as well as those stemming from the Regional Meetings.
Main themes of the GP2022 include disaster risk governance, COVID-19 recovery, and disaster risk reduction financing, while key cross cutting themes such as the sustainable development goals and climate action will also be addressed.
The ICG/NEAMTWS Technical Secretary is involved as an organizing Team Member of Thematic Session 3 on Multi-Hazard and Multi-Sector Approach, and Thematic Session 15 on Early Warning and Early Action (EWEA).
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