Regional Training, Colombia, October-November 2017

Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre (PTWC) New Enhanced Tsunami Products for ICG/CARIBE EWS Regional Training Workshop

Cartagena, Colombia
31 October - 02 November 2017

Significant scientific and technological advances have been made to better forecast tsunami impacts in real time and to present forecast information graphically since the formation of the original PTWC products for the CARIBE-EWS. Based on these advances and TOWS working Group recommendations for more globally consistent and useful Tsunami Service Provider products, the ICG/CARIBE-EWS has implemented the PTWC New Enhanced Products since 1st March 2016. The workshop will be conducted in English through lecture-discussion, multimedia presentations and simulations with the aim of training participants in the interpretation and implementation of the new suite of enhanced operational tsunami forecast products. It is recommended that at least one (1) candidate should be from the National Tsunami Warning Centre or the Tsunami Warning Focal Point agency (NTWC, TWFP) and one from the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) or another tsunami emergency response (TER) agency. To maximize the benefits of the training, it is further recommended that candidates who have participated in the previous Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs) trainings (2013–2014) be nominated.

This three-day training workshop is intended to enable tsunami warning focal points (TWFPs), national tsunami warning centers (NTWC), and tsunami emergency responders (TERs) to effectively receive, analyse and take appropriate action in response to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) enhanced tsunami forecast products for the Caribbean and its adjacent regions. This 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 tsunami warning chain and their standard operating procedures (SOPs).

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, 2, vers 20 Oct 2017 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 the 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami helping to increase scientific understanding, better techniques have been developed to quickly characterize the earthquake and numerically model the tsunami. In the Pacific, the PTWS adopted use of the PTWC enhanced products based on numerical forecast models on 1 October 2014. For the Caribbean and adjacent regions, the changeover to PTWC’s new enhanced forecast products was approved by the ICG/CARIBEEWS VIII (2013), introduced in CARIBE WAVE 2013, and issued in parallel from October 26, 2015. The changeover to solely the new products took place on 1 March 2016.

Due to the impacts of meteorological events during the 2017 hurricane season, lessons to be learned, particularly in relation to communications, will also be discussed.

 Informational Documents