ITP-Cook Islands: Tsunami Warning and Emergency Response Using the PTWC Enhanced Products for National Tsunami Threat Decision-Making

16 – 19 Nov 2015, Rarotonga, Cook Islands

The training workshop will cover tsunami warning operations and the use of the PTWC Enhanced Products for tsunami threat decision-making, with specific attention on the warning and emergency response plan and standard operating procedures (SOPs) of the Cook Islands. Topics will include warning and response SOPs and challenges, warning decision support tools, warning messages and alerting, evacuation concepts and planning, and awareness strategies. Over the last 10+ years, with improvements in data quality, quantity, and real-time availability, PTWC’s response time has dropped significantly from an hour to 5-10 minutes for tsunami events. At the same time, with each great earthquake and tsunami since 26 December 2004 helping to increase scientific understanding, better techniques have been developed to quickly characterize the earthquake and numerically model the tsunami. In 2014, the PTWC implemented Enhanced Products for the PTWS that now include wave amplitude forecasts in both text and graphical formats, and that require each country to explicitly assign Warning / Watch status in their own messages to their coasts. In July 2015, the First Pacific Ministerial Meeting on Meteorology adopted the Nuku'alofa Declaration, calling for support to ensure that National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS) have the necessary capacity to support sustainable development, and specifically for the need to strengthen their tsunami early warning systems. Accordingly, the goal of this training is to increase the capacity of first responder operational staff to efficiently and effectively respond to tsunamis.

Location

Rarotonga
Cook Islands

Organisers and Staff

Organisers
Dr Laura Kong
Mr. Rajendra PRASAD
Shohei Matsuura
Masahiro Yamamoto
1.1

Opening Ceremonies

1.2

Logistics and Administrative Items, Introductions Course Overview

2.1

ICG/PTWS-XXVI Outcomes, specifically for the Pacific Islands

2.2

Responding Rapidly and Effectively: Tsunami Warning and Emergency Response Requirements and Timeline-driven SOPs

2.3

Tsunami Warning Center SOPs: What do Tsunami Warning Centers (TWCs) provide to Tsunami Emergency Response (TER) agencies?

2.4

PTWS video: Tsunami Warning!

3.1

Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) New Enhanced Products - Overview - What, Why, Criteria, Formats

3.2

Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) New Enhanced Products - Staging

3.3

Cook Islands TWC and TER SOPs using PTWC Enhanced Products

3.4

Discussion: CI SOPs – status, gaps, needs

4.2

PTWC Enhanced Products - Explanation of Each Product: Text, Forecast Polygon Map, Graphical Deep-Ocean Energy, Coastal Forecast, Forecast Tables, KMZ file

4.3

16 September 2015, M8.3 Tsunami – PTWC summary, PTWS Post-Tsunami Event Assessment Survey

4.3.b

Tsunami Hazard Scenarios around the Pacific - Understanding PTWC Enhanced Products

4.5

TWC and TER SOPs for PTWC Enhanced Products: Guidance, Flow Charts, Criteria Tables, Timeline-driven SOP, Message Templates. Warning (EQ Magnitude and Forecast thresholds), Evacuation (Land and Marine Threats and Public Safety)

5.1

Cook Islands SOP Development: Communications Flow Chart, Roles & Responsibilities

5.2

Demonstration: Decision Support Tools of Monitoring, Detection, Assessment – Earthquakes: Real-time Earthquake Display (CISN), USGS web site (CMT, ShakeMap, PAGER) Tsunami: Sea Level Monitoring (IOC web site, TideTool with Tsunami Travel Times), RIFT Tsunami Scenarios

5.3

Cook Islands SOP Development: Alert Criteria Table – Regional and Distant Tsunami Cases

5.4

Cook Islands SOP Development: Timeline-driven actions – Regional Tsunami Case - when, who, how to decide, what to use Decision-making processes for: 1. Warning/Watch/Information using: - PTWC initial message (no quantitative forecast, OT+7 min) - PTWC quantitative forecast (OT+25 min) 2. Cancelling Watch / Warning 3. Issuing “All-Clear”

5.5

Cook Islands SOP Development: Timeline-driven actions – Distant Tsunami Case - when, who, how to decide, what to use

5.6

Cook Islands SOP Development: National Tsunami Message Products for Different Alert Levels: - Threat: Warning, Watch - No Threat: Information Statement

6.1

TWC Operations: Earthquake Monitoring: Real-time Detection and Fast Source Characterization – Methods to determine Magnitude and Fault Mechanism (W-Phase CMT), Limitations and Challenges (did not present in detail)

6.2

TWC Operations: Sea Level Monitoring - Methods, Instruments, Limitations, Challenges

6.3

TWC Operations: Travel Time Forecasting - Methods, Limitations, Uncertainty, Sensitivity Studies (Location, Depth, Magnitude) (did not present in detail)

6.4

TWC Operations: Wave Amplitude Forecasting – Methods, Limitations, Uncertainty, Sensitivity Studies (Location, Depth, Magnitude) (did not present in detail)

6.5

What do TERs do with TWC information? Challenges in Alerting, Evacuation, and Safe-to-Return (All-Clear) (did not present)

6.6

Building Awareness & Community Preparedness – Being TsunamiSmart and TsunamiReady (did not present)

6.7

Activity: Improving Response – What Happens When? Reliable and Unreliable Information (did not present)

6.8

Final Discussion: CI Readiness - Questions, Answers, Next Steps

Agenda Documents

Agenda Code Title
1.2 Tsunami Warning and Emergency Response: Using the PTWC Enhanced Products for National Tsunami Threat Decision-making
2.1 International Tsunami Symposium & ICG/PTWS-XXVI
2.2 Responding Rapidly and Effectively: Tsunami Warning and Emergency Response Requirements and Timeline-driven SOPs
2.3 What do Tsunami Warning Centers provide to Tsunami Emergency Response Agencies?
3.1 PTWC New Enhanced Products for Pacific countries: Overview
3.2 PTWC New Enhanced Products: Product Staging
4.1 Historical Tsunamis Affecting the Region, and Tsunami Hazard
4.1 Regional tectonics and Seismicity, and Earthquake Hazard
4.1 Science of Earthquake
4.1 Science of Tsunami
4.2 PTWC New Enhanced Products Explanation of Each Product
4.3 PTWC Response to 16 September 2015 Tsunami from Mw 8.3 Chile Earthquake
4.3 Post-Event Assessment Questionnaire - Chile 2015
4.4 Tsunami Emergency Response SOPs Overview of Stakeholder Roles and Coordination, Event Operations, Timelines, Checklists
4.4 Tsunami Emergency Response SOPs Overview of Stakeholder Roles and Coordination, Event Operations, Timelines, Checklists
4.5 National TWC SOPs – Using PTWC New Products for Threat Assessment: Criteria Tables, Message Templates
5.2 NTWC OPERATIONS - WEB SITE URLS – BOOKMARKS (August 2015) Tsunami Threat / Warning Messages, Earthquake and Sea Level Monitoring
5.2 Keeping Authorities Informed: Available TW Decision Support Tools Alert, Sea Level, Earthquakes Historical Database, Tsunami Travel Times
6.1 TWC Operations: Limitations and Challenges
6.2 29 Sep. 2009 Samoa Tsunami
6.2 TWC Operations: Sea Level Monitoring - Use, Instruments, Limitations, Challenges
6.4 TWC Operations – Wave Amplitude Forecasting

Participant Stats:

Staff and organisers 4
Confirmed 12
Not Confirmed 0
Not-participating 0
Total 16
Groups: ITIC, Tsunami
Created at 15:50 on 26 November 2015 by Mr Bernardo Aliaga Rossel
Last Updated at 15:50 on 4 December 2015 by Mr Bernardo Aliaga Rossel
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