UNESCO’s (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Intergovernmental Coordination Group for Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG/IOTWMS) conducted an Indian Ocean-wide mock Tsunami Drill – ‘IOWave20’ (Indian Ocean Wave2020) on October 6, 13 and 20, 2020.
Considering the Pandemic, the exercise was limited to test communication channels instead of full-scale exercise which will involve public evacuations.
Key Points:
i.The drill enacted three scenarios
- Earthquake Magnitude 9.1 in Java Region, Indonesia.
- Earthquake Magnitude 9.2 in Andaman Trench of India
- Earth Magnitude 9.0 at Off-coast of Pakistan.
ii.Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre (ITEWC) participated in the IOWave20 Exercise in its capacity as National Tsunami Warning Centre for India and also Tsunami Service Provider for the entire Indian Ocean Region.
ii.During these scenarios, ITEWC issued bulletins to National and Regional stakeholders of 25 Indian Ocean rim countries.
Mock Drill in India:
i.In India, the exercise was focussed on east coast Disaster Management Organizations (DMOs) to identify and fix gaps in communications channels and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for an impending tsunami.
Note – On August 7, 2020, IOC-UNESCO (Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission – United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) recognised two villages – Venkataraipur and Noliasahi in Odisha as Tsunami Ready.
Participants:
i.DMOs of Andaman and Nicobar Island, West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry took active participation in the exercise.
ii.Indian Navy, Coast Guard, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Nuclear power plants and Port & Harbors participated in the exercise.
Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre (ITEWC):
i.ITEWC has been operational since 2007.
ii.It is based out of ESSO-INCOIS (Earth System Science Organization-Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services), Hyderabad.
iii.INCOIS is an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
iv.It has infrastructure for reception of real-time data from seismic and sea-level sensors, and disseminates tsunami bulletins following SOP.
Recent Related News:
i.On August 7, 2020, UNESCO recognised Venkatraipur and Noliasahi, villages of Odisha as ‘Tsunami Ready’ for their overall preparedness to face the tsunami.
ii.On March 6, 2020, India has joined Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) as its 5th observer state to strengthen its Indo-Pacific vision and also to boost strategic partnership with France, and Vanilla Islands.
About ESSO-INCOIS (Earth System Science Organization-Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services):
Director – Tummala Srinivasa Kumar
Location – Hyderabad, Telangana
