Special Training Program for Pacific Countries

Though tsunamis in the Indian Ocean are fairly infrequent, they cause devastation of incredible magnitude. The world’s second largest recorded earthquake (Mw 9.1) of December 26, 2004 generated a tsunami that caused unprecedented loss of life and damage to property in the Indian Ocean rim countries. In the aftermath , the Government of India successfully established the  Indian Tsunami Early Warning System operated from the ESSO-Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) ( an autonomous institute of Ministry of Earth Sciences) at Hyderabad.

The state-of-the-art Early Warning Centre at ESSO-INCOIS is well-equipped with computational and communication infrastructure to enable reception of real-time data from sensors, analysis of data, generation and dissemination of tsunami advisories following a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). Seismic and sea-level data are continuously monitored in the Early Warning Centre using custom-built software that generates alarms/alerts in the warning centre whenever a pre-set threshold is crossed. Tsunami warnings/alerts/ watches are then generated and disseminated to the concerned authorities for action, following the SOP.

ESSO-INCOIS is organizing a training programme for Pacific Island Countries on “Early Warning System for Oceanic disaster and mitigation with special emphasis on tsunamis" in collaboration with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India at INCOIS during 20 -25 November 2017. This ‘training of the trainers’ programme is designed to enhance the participants’ abilities to support their organizational preparedness and response for oceanic hazards.

The goal of this course is to enhance the local capacity in Pacific Island Countries for meeting the different aspects of tsunami preparedness and response efforts. The Training Program includes: Basics of Earthquake and Tsunami, Tsunami Detection and Warning Process, Preparedness and Response, Exercise on Scenarios and Witnessing tsunami mock drill. The training course will help in increasing the preparedness of disaster management, early warning capabilities, creating awareness among coastal population in the 14 Pacific Island Countries.  This will also reinforce the image of India to the International Community for Disaster risk preparedness.

Today, Shri. R. K. Jain, IAS (Retd.), Member, NDMA and Dr. S.S.C. Shenoi, Director, INCOIS have inaugurated this training programme. Participants from the Republic of Marshall Islands, Palau, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Nauru, Niue, Vanuatu, Kiribati, Fiji, Cook Islands and Tonga are actively interacting with faculty from NDMA and INCOIS with presentations and exercises which will continue till 25 November2017. The participants will also travel to coastal stretches in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh as field observers for the upcoming Multi-state Tsunami Mock Drill for the East Coast of India to be held on 24^th November 2017.

-Press note