The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) is all set to participate in a major Indian Ocean-wide tsunami mock exercise, IOWave23, along with several other nations, by simulating an earthquake with a magnitude of 9.0 in Andaman Trench at 9.30 p.m. on October 4.
The Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre (ITEWC) at INCOIS, under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), will issue test tsunami bulletins to both national and regional stakeholders through Global Telecommunication System (GTS), email, fax, SMS - as well as share the bulletin on INCOIS website.
“Due care will be taken to ensure people are not inadvertently alarmed,” said director T. Srinivasa Kumar on Tuesday.
Various disaster management organisations of the Centre and the States will be participating in the exercise for a period of 12 hours on the east coast of India and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The mock exercise purpose is to increase tsunami preparedness, evaluate response capabilities in each State and improve coordination throughout the region.
The drill will facilitate exercising the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) of the emergency services and evaluating their state of readiness to handle tsunami-like emergency situations. The aim is to exercise all levels of the tsunami warning and response chain, with a primary focus on the local coastal community level. Feedback from the participants after the exercise is expected to improve the SOPs of all stakeholders, said the director.
“These exercises will provide a great opportunity for all stakeholders to test their tsunami warning procedures and enhance public awareness and preparedness. It will help us identify and fix any gaps in warning chains and be fully prepared for future events” added Dr. T. Srinivasa Kumar.
The event is coordinated by the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (IOTWMS) of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC)-UNESCO - and in association with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), respective State DMAs, Navy, Coast Guard, and also the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) from installations such as nuclear power plants, ports and harbours, said an official release.
