Tsunami Evacuation Maps, Plans & Procedures, Fiji, September-October 2019

Tsunami Evacuation Maps, Plans and Procedures (TEMPP)

Nadi, Fiji
30 September - 4 October 2019

While infrequent, tsunamis can be extremely deadly because of their quick onset and immediate impact in minutes. In order to warn quickly and have the public evacuate when necessary, agencies must pre-plan and have protocols and procedures which are wellknown to every stakeholder and to the public, and which are well-exercised and practiced. Communities must know their hazard and risk, and prepare in advance, so that every person can recognize the tsunami danger and know what to do to save their lives.

The TEMPP training course is intended to be a standardized course and process for the production of reliable and practical community-level tsunami evacuation maps. The direct outcomes are communities that know what to do and where to go when a tsunami warning is issued, or when self-responding to the natural warning signs of a tsunami. Upon completion, countries should have the capability and tools to replicate the community evacuation map process elsewhere in their country.

Community tsunami risk is reduced through pre-event evacuation planning. Effective and successful evacuations requires planning and involves four foundation blocks:

   1. Identifying Inundation Areas.
   2. Developing Tsunami Evacuation maps.
   3. Developing Tsunami Response Plans and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
   4. Tsunami Exercising.

This training focuses on TEMPP Module 1 and will equip participants with knowledge to develop an inundation map, with or without the use of modelling. A tsunami inundation map identifies areas expected to be flooded by tsunamis based on available historical evidence and/or modelling, and is essential to developing an evacuation plan and undertaking mitigation measures to minimize the impact of tsunami.

TEMPP1 covers the explanation and use of inundation models for evacuation modeling. Topics include earthquake tectonics, tsunami science, bathymetric and topographic grids, earthquake source parameters, forecast methodology, tsunami modeling, tsunami hazard assessment and use of the MOST model and ComMIT interface tool.

 Informational Documents