South Pacific Tsunami Awareness Workshop (SPTAW)

Announcing South Pacific Tsunami Awareness Workshop

Suva, Fiji, 1-3rd July 2004

Tsunami hazards are a major, but little understood, threat in the Pacific region. Pacific islands, sited on the world’s largest ocean surface, and countries bordering the Pacific Ocean, are the most vulnerable. Tsunamis are normally generated by large earthquakes occurring below or near the ocean floor, but can also be caused by underwater volcanic eruptions and landslides. Tsunamis are a series of extremely long-wavelength waves that travel very fast, at speeds in excess of 1000km/hr, in the deep ocean. As the tsunami enters shallow water near coastlines in its path, the velocity of its waves decreases and its wave height increases. It is in these shallow waters that tsunamis become a threat to life and property for they can crest to heights of more than 10 m, strike with devastating force, and flood low-lying coastal areas. As these waves move very fast through the ocean, Pacific islands are vulnerable to both distant/regional tsunamis as well as to those generated locally.

The objective of this Workshop is to raise awareness on tsunami hazards and the needs of users of tsunami information. The Workshop will bring together Pacific Island users to present their needs, learn and hear about operational tsunami warning systems and successful tsunami mitigation projects around the Pacific, and to discuss and develop appropriate tsunami mitigation plans for their countries and/or as a region. To facilitate a better assessment on the level of awareness and understanding of the tsunami hazard, a User Needs survey will be conducted leading up to the Workshop.

The Workshop is to be held from 1-3rd July in Suva, Fiji, in conjunction with the regional preparatory workshop to the 2nd World Conference on Disaster Management to be held in Kobe, Japan in 2005. The meeting will review global achievements in implementation of the 1994 Yokohama Strategy and Plan of Action for Natural Disaster Reduction.

The workshop aims to bring together key technical agencies responsible for earthquake and tsunami monitoring and disaster management agencies from the vulnerable countries of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands, and Fiji.

The UNESCO/IOC International Tsunami Information Centre, and the U.S.’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, which operates the international tsunami warning system, have made available their staff as resource scientists for the Workshop. Additionally, Japan, New Zealand, Indonesia, and Australia, members of the International Coordination Group for the Tsunami Warning System in the Pacific (ICG/ITSU) Working Group for the Tsunami Warning System in the Southwest Pacific and Indian Ocean, will be attending and providing their expertise.

This Tsunami Awareness Workshop is co-sponsored by SOPAC and the UNESCO/IOC ICG/ITSU. Requests for further information can be directed at Atu Kaloumaira at SOPAC atu@sopac.org or Dr. Laura Kong, International Tsunami Information Centre laura.kong@noaa.gov. Invitation letters will be issued from the Community Risk Programme of SOPAC, who is coordinating both Workshops.