Pacific - International Tsunami Information Center

Exercise Pacific Wave 22

2022-05-10T17:29:00+00:00

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At its 29th session (ICG/PTWS-XXIX), 1–2 and 7–8 December 2021, the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Pacific Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System approved the conduct of Exercise Pacific Wave between September and November 2022 in order to support International Disaster Risk Reduction Day (13 October) and World Tsunami Awareness Day (5 November). PacWave22 will be the tenth in a series of PacWave exercises which have been conducted biennially since 2006.

The aim of the PacWave22 is to test PTWS tsunami service provider arrangements, and country preparedness arrangements and operational procedures to respond and recover from a destructive tsunami. The Objectives are:
(i) Test communications from the PTWS Tsunami Service Providers (TSP) to the Tsunami Warning Focal Points (TWFP) and National Tsunami Warning Centres (NTWC) of the Member States concerned.
(ii) Test national communication and cooperation, and readiness within each of the participating countries.
(iii) Test regional communication and cooperation between Member States of the tsunami warning system.
(iv) Support the development of tsunami procedures and products by the Central America Tsunami Advisory Centre (CATAC), a potential new Tsunami Service Provider (pending endorsement of full functionality by IOC governing bodies).

PacWave22 Timeline and Milestones
Date	Activity
1 Sep 2022	PacWave22 Exercise Manual, TS 175
13 Sep 2022, 0300 UTC (En), 1800 UTC (Sp)	PacWave22 Informational Webinar Meeting site English registration link, Spanish registration link
20 Sep 2022	Deadline: Regional Working Groups inform TSP if products needed, copied to ITIC
1 Sep – 30 Nov 2022	PacWave22 Member State / regional activities
2 wks before Reg Exercise	TSP products avail on Regional Exercise web page
13 Oct 2022, 0000 UTC	Pacwave22 Live TSP Communications Test
13 Oct 2022	PacWave22 Exercise Evaluation Forms available (TS 175 - Annex II) - link to eval forms goes live Pacwave22 Live TSP Communications Test Form (online) Pacwave22 Post-Exercise Evaluation Form (online)
23 Oct 2022	Deadline: Member States to complete and submit Pacwave22 Live TSP Communications Test results
9 Nov 2022, 2300 UTC	PacWave22-PICT, HTHH scenario (web site) UNESCO News Release (10 Nov 2022)
30 Nov 2022	Draft Live TSP Communications Test report
21 Dec 2022	Deadline: Member States to complete and submit PacWave22 Post-Exercise Evaluation Form
28 Feb 2023	Draft PacWave22 Summary Report
30 Apr 2023	Final PacWave22 Summary Report

PacWave Exercise Documents
Document	Format/Size
Exercise Pacific Wave 2022 - IOC PacWave22 Exercise Task Team - Terms of Reference, Members, IOC ICG/PTWS-XXIX, December 2021 IOC Circular Letter 2894 (23 June 2022) IOC Circular Letter 2904 - Webinar invitation (31 August 2022)	(MsWord, 33 KB) (PDF, 228 KB) (PDF, 198 KB)
PacWave22 Exercise Manual (IOC TS 175 Vol.1)	(PDF, 1.3 MB)
PacWave22 Summary Report (IOC TS 175 Vol. 2)	(PDF, 3.4 MB)
TSP Communication Test - Exercise Dummy Messages PTWC NWPTAC SCSTAC CATAC	(TXT, 1 KB) (TXT, 1 KB) (TXT, 1 KB) (TXT, 1 KB)
PacWave22 Regional Exercise Information (format, conduct, scenario, messages/MSEL, Media) Central Pacific Pacific Coast (CA-PAC), CATAC Regional Exercise Southeast Pacific (SEP) Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICT) South China Sea (SCS)	(web site)
IOC Tsunami Warning Focal Point (TWFP) and National Tsunami Warning Center (NTWC) Contact Information Definitions (IOC Executive Council, July 2014) Updating information on National Tsunami Warning Centres (NTWC) and Tsunami Warning Focal Points (TWFP) for the PTWS region according to new definitions (23 January 2015) IOC CL 2563 IOC CL 2563 Annex, NTWC, TWFP Nomination Form	(PDF, 53 KB) (PDF, 352 KB) (MsWord, 82 KB)

Exercise Planning and Resource Documents
Document	Format/Size
Tsunami Coastal Assessement Tool (TsuCAT) Information Sheet, v4.2, October 2020 Tsunami Coastal Hazard Assessment Tool (TsuCAT) - Supporting National Efforts in Disaster Risk Reduction, Intl Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, Jul 2019 Tsunami Coastal Assessment Tool (TsuCAT): A Tool fo Rapid Initial Tsunami Assessment, IOC/UNESCO Symposium, Feb 2018 User's Manual, v4.0, Apr 2019 User's Manual, v4.1, Sep 2019 User's Manual, v4.2, October 2020 TsuCAT overview presentation, October 2020	web site (PDF, 832 KB) (PDF, 14 MB, poster) (PDF, 13 MB, poster) (PDF, 7.5 MB) (PDF, 8 MB) (PDF, 8.5 MB) (PDF, 14 MB)
Previous PacWave Exercises Tsunami Travel Time Maps Historical Tsunami & Seismicity Maps Exercise Pacific Wave 2020, Summary Report final draft, Nov 2021, TS 175 Exercise Pacific Wave 2018, Summary Report, TS 139 Exercise Pacific Wave 2017, Summary Report, TS 131 Exercise Pacific Wave 2006-2016 - Decade of Reflection	(HTML) (HTML) (PDF, 4.0 MB) (PDF, 2.7 MB) (PDF, 1.2 MB) (PPT, 3.2 MB, PDF 2.9 MB)
How to Plan, Conduct, and Evaluate Tsunami Exercises IOC Manual and Guides 58, 2013 English Spanish Summary Powerpoint (Oct 2011)	(PDF, 1.3 MB) (PDF, 1.1 MB) (PPT, 3.0 MB)
Plans and Procedures for Tsunami Warning and Emergency Management (IOC Manual and Guides 76 rev., 2017, English)	(PDF, 3 MB)
Preparing for Community Tsunami Evacuations: from inundation to evacuation maps, response planning, and exercises, Guide and Supplements (IOC Manual and Guides 82, 2020, English, Spanish)	web site

Tsunami Service Provider (TSP) Documents
Document	Format/Size
PTWC Products User’s Guide for the PTWC Enhanced Products for the PTWS (IOC TS 105 rev, Aug 2014) English, correction 14 Oct 2014 (Full resolution) Spanish, correction 14 Oct 2014 (Full resolution)	(Web Site) (PDF, 4.4 MB) (PDF, 4.4 MB)
NWPTAC Products (For Member States of the NWPTAC Area of Responsibility only) IOC Circular Letter No. 2702, Starting of issuance of experimental NWPTAC Enhanced Products on 20 December 2017, including Users Guide (13 Dec 2017) IOC Circular Letter No. 2753, Full transition to NWPTAC enhanced products as from 28 February 2019 (24 Jan 2019) NWPTAC Enhanced Products Area of Service, Jan 2019 (IOC TS 142) Users' Guide for the Northwest Pacific Tsunami Advisory Center (NWPTAC), Enhanced Products for the Pacific Tsunami Warning System (IOC TS 142, Jan 2019)	(PDF, 124 KB) (PDF, 370 KB) (PDF, 65 KB) (PDF, 1.7 MB)
SCSTAC Products (For Member States of the South China Sea region only) IOC Circular Letter No. 2706, Starting of trail operations of the South China Sea Tsunami Advisory Center (SCSTAC) on 26 January 2018 (5 January 2018) IOC Circular Letter No. 2777, Full operation of the South China Sea Tsunami Advisory Center (SCSTAC) starts 5 November 2019 (16 September 2019) SCSTAC Area of Service (IOC TS 149) User's Guide for the South China Sea Tsunami Advisory Center (SCSTAC) products for the South China Sea Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (IOC TS 149, Sept 2019)	(PDF, 124 KB) (PDF, KB) (PDF, 229 KB) (PDF, 2.8 MB)
CATAC Products (For Member States of the CATAC Area of Responsibility only) CATAC Products Area of Service, Aug 2019 (draft 28 Mar 2019) Users' Guide for the Central America Tsunami Advisory Centre (CATAC) (draft 28 Mar 2019) CATAC Regional Exercise Manual (Ejercicio Tsunami-CA-19) 19 Aug 2019 (IOC TS 148 Vol 1) CATAC Regional Exercise Manual (Ejercicio Tsunami-CA-20) 11 Nov 2020 (28 October, Spanish) (IOC TS 156). NEW IOC Circular Letter No. 2814, Operaciones de prueba del Centro de Asesoramiento sobre los Tsunamis de América Central (CATAC) y ejercicio de simulacro CATAC 20 el 11 de noviembre de 2020, como parte de PacWave20. Central America Tsunami Advisory Center (CATAC) trail operations and CATAC 20 exercise on November 11, 2020, as part of PacWave20 (29 Oct 2020, Spanish) IOC Media Advisory, CATAC Regional Exercise, 10 November 2020	(PDF, KB) (English PDF 1.1 MB, Spanish PDF 1.1 MB) (PDF, 1.7 MB) (PDF, 4.6 MB) (PDF, 216 KB) (PDF, 3.6 MB)

Exercise Pacific Wave 22 - Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICT)

2022-08-03T17:27:37+00:00

Pacific Island Countries and
Territories Regional Exercise
(PacWave22-PICT)

9 Nov 2022 2300 UTC
to 10 Nov 2022 0100 UTC
UNESCO News Release

PacWave22-PICT Timeline and Milestones
Date	Activity
2 November 2022, 2300 UTC	Webinar - Meeting site, video recording
7 November 2022 8 November 2022 (final incl HF freq)	Exercise Manual incl MSEL (final incl HF freq, 8 Nov) PTWC msgs (all msgs, 7 Nov, ZIP) PW22-PICT_message01.txt (TXT1) PW22-PICT_message02.txt (TXT2) PW22-PICT_message03.txt (TXT3) PW22-PICT_message04.txt (TXT4) PW22-PICT_message05.txt (TXT5) PW22-PICT_message06.txt (TXT6) PW22-PICT_message07.txt (TXT7) PW22-PICT_message08.txt (TXT8) PW22-PICT_message09.txt (TXT9)
8 November 2022 2300 UTC	Communication Test (Email Listserv, WhatsApp, HF Radio) - please acknowledge receipt and time of receipt (UTC, date, name of person)
2300 UTC 9 Nov to 0100 UTC 10 Nov 2022	PacWave22-PICT Regional Exercise
10 November 2022 NEW	UNESCO News Release
16 November 2022, 2300 UTC (2 hours) NEW	Cold Wash - Regional Exercise Debrief - Meeting site, video recording
21 December 2022 NEW	Deadline to complete and submit PacWave22-PICT Regional Post-Exercise Evaluation Form (Online).

On 25 July 2022, the Chair of the Intergovernmental Coordination Group (ICG) for the Pacific Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (PTWS) approved the “Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai type” Volcanic Tsunami Hazard Response: Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre (PTWC) Interim Procedures and PTWS Products User’s Guide following the review conducted by the ICG/PTWS Steering Committee.

The ICG/PTWS Steering Committee also recommended PTWC to collaborate with WG-PICT through Exercise Pacific Wave 2022 to test the “Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai type” Volcanic Tsunami Hazard Response: PTWC Interim Procedures and PTWS Products User’s Guide.

The massive explosion on the volcanic island of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai (HTHH), about 30 km (19 mi) south-southeast of Fonuafoʻou island in Tonga, on 15 January 2022 at about 4:14 UTC, generated a tsunami that caused damages locally, regionally, and across the Pacific.

This was the first time that the PTWC had to respond to such an event, since its system is primarily focused on earthquake-generated tsunamis representing nearly 90% of the past cases of tsunami in the world.

The PacWave22-PICT Regional Exercise aims to;

1. Test the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai (HTHH) PTWC Interim Procedures and PTWS Products (IOC Circular Letter 2902) and whether the HTHH PTWS products are interpreted PICT Member States accurately and in a timely manner, and

2. Test regional communication and cooperation between PICT Member States, and the value of information sharing in facilitating national tsunami alert decision-making.

The PacWave22-PICT will consist of a 2-hour real-time table top exercise starting at 2300 UTC on 9 November 2022 (Access to your timezone). The exercise scenario will replay the HTHH tsunami sequence that occurred on 15th January 2022 with PTWC-simulated products. During the exercise, PICT national stakeholders (National Tsunami Warning Centres and National Disaster Management Offices) will share event information through multiple informal communications modes, including by WhatsApp, mailing list, and/or HF Radio.

To enable this regional exercise, PTWC will provide participating Member States with PacWave22-PICT Regional Exercise messages. These messages provide information that can assist countries in their tsunami hazard assessment, tsunami response planning, and warning decision-making.

WG-PICT Member State exercises are also encouraged to consider:

Conducting exercises based on limitations derived from the COVID-19 pandemic, such as the absence of a warning centre duty officer(s), the requirement for virtual exercises, and/or evacuations/sheltering considering physical distancing practices of a pandemic.

Testing the capability to carry out their national warning and response responsibilities.
Conducting the exercise down to the community level, including where possible, an extensive public awareness campaign.

The ITIC and IOC will host PacWave22-PICT Regional Exercise - Cold Wash and Debrief on 16 November 2022, at 2300 UTC. Country Players, and Exercise Observers and Controllers are invited to participate to provide their experiences and feedback. Information on the webinar, including agenda and documents, can be on this meeting website.

Exercise Documents
Document	Format/Size
UNESCO News Release, 10 November 2022 NEW	(website link)
IOC Circular Letter 2908, Pacific Island Countries and Territories Regional Exercise during Pacific Wave Exercise 2022 (PacWave22-PICT) on 9 November 2022, 27 Sep 2022	(PDF, 198 KB)
Exercise Registration	(Online) PDF, 165 KB
Exercise Manual for PacWave22-PICT Regional Exercise (final incl all HF freq, issued 8 Nov 2022)	(PDF final, 4.3 MB)
Master Schedule of Events List (MSEL) - PacWave22-PICT Regional Exercise - (MSEL)	inside Exercise Manual
PTWC Messages (version 2, 7 Nov 2022) - PacWave22-PICT Regional Exercise PTWC msgs (all msgs ZIP) PW22-PICT_message01.txt (TXT1) PW22-PICT_message02.txt (TXT2) PW22-PICT_message03.txt (TXT3) PW22-PICT_message04.txt (TXT4) PW22-PICT_message05.txt (TXT5) PW22-PICT_message06.txt (TXT6) PW22-PICT_message07.txt (TXT7) PW22-PICT_message08.txt (TXT8) PW22-PICT_message09.txt (TXT9)	(all msgs, ZIP, 48 KB (TXT1) (TXT2) (TXT3) (TXT4) (TXT5) (TXT6) (TXT7) (TXT8) (TXT9)
HTHH Tsunami Travel Time Map Local 2h, IOC/DART stations Regional 6h, IOC stations Regional 6h, DART stations HTHH Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) IOC stations DART stations HTHH Observations - IOC Sea Level Network Data Marigrams IOC (Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission: Sea level station monitoring facility). DART (Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis).	(PNG, 766 KB) (PNG, 759 KB) (PNG, 748 KB) (TXT, 6 KB) (TXT, 1 KB) (ZIP, 1.6 MB) (ZIP, 13.3 MB)
Post-Exercise Evaluation Form - PacWave22-PICT Regional Exercise. NEW	(Online)
Country Photos/Videos - injects and activities NEW Fiji France - New Caledonia France - Tahiti France - Wallis & Futuna Nauru Samoa Tonga HF Radio Comms Test - Fiji, New Caledonia, Nauru, Tonga	(ZIP, 32 MB) (ZIP, 6 MB) (ZIP, 4 MB) (ZIP, 6 MB) (ZIP, 60 MB) (ZIP, 4 MB) (ZIP, 52 MB) (ZIP, 51 MB)

Exercise Planning and Resource Documents
Document	Format/Size
Information web site, PTWC Interim Procedures and PTWS Products for Tsunamis from the Hunga Tonga – Hunga Ha‘apai Volcano	website
User's Guide, PTWC Interim Procedures and PTWS Products for Tsunamis from the Hunga Tonga – Hunga Ha‘apai Volcano (v1.3, 25 July 2022), IOC CL 2902, 17 Aug 2022	(PDF, User's Guide) (PDF, CL 2902)
How to Plan, Conduct, and Evaluate Tsunami Exercises IOC Manual and Guides 58, 2013 English Spanish Summary Powerpoint (Oct 2011)	(PDF, 1.3 MB) (PDF, 1.1 MB) (PPT, 3.0 MB)
Plans and Procedures for Tsunami Warning and Emergency Management (IOC Manual and Guides 76 rev., 2017, English)	(PDF, 3 MB)
Preparing for Community Tsunami Evacuations: from inundation to evacuation maps, response planning, and exercises, Guide and Supplements (IOC Manual and Guides 82, 2020, English, Spanish)	web site