March 11 marked the somber anniversary of the catastrophic tsunami that struck Japan in 2011, a day that forever changed the lives of thousands. Thirteen years have passed since the waves unleashed by the Great East Japan Earthquake claimed over 15,000 lives and left countless others grappling with injuries, displacement, and profound grief.
The Seventeenth Meeting of the Working Group on Tsunamis and Other Hazards related to Sea Level Warning and Mitigation Systems (TOWS-WG-XVII) concluded on February 23, 2024, in Sendai, Japan. Hosted at the International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS), Tohoku University, the meeting ran parallel to the Task Team on Disaster Management and Preparedness (TT-DMP) and the Inter-ICG Task Team on Tsunami Watch Operations (TT-TWO) meetings, sharing joint agenda items.
Over 40 national representatives, stakeholders and experts assembled at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris for a meeting of CoastWAVE, a Project implemented by UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and funded by the European Commission's DG ECHO in the context of the UN Ocean Decade 2021-2030.
In a groundbreaking achievement, the Municipality of Cannes (France) has been officially recognized as the first UNESCO-IOC Tsunami Ready community in mainland France and the Mediterranean. The momentous event unfolded on January 19, 2024, at the Salon Marianne at City Hall, marking a pivotal milestone not only for Cannes but for the entire region.
The massive explosion of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai (HTHH) volcano in Tonga on 15 January 2022, which generated a tsunami causing widespread damage locally, regionally and throughout the Pacific, was an unprecedented event not only for the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) but also for all Tsunami Warning Centers whose warning procedures and products were designed for earthquake-generated tsunamis, accounting for almost 90% of past tsunami events worldwide.
The impact of the HTHH volcanic explosion and tsunami has led the Intergovernmental Coordination Group (ICG) for the Pacific Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (PTWS) in 2022 to establish a Task Team on Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Ha’apai (HTHH) Volcano Tsunami Hazard Response to address the possibility of future tsunamis originating from additional volcanic eruptions or associated processes at the HTHH. The Task Team prepared an Interim Volcanic Tsunami Alert Procedures Implementation Plan with a focus on the HTHH Interim Products and Procedures for responding to the possibility of future tsunamis originating from additional volcanic eruptions or associated processes at the HTHH. In September 2023, the ICG/PTWS at its thirtieth session (Nuku’alofa, Tonga) decided to establish the permanent HTHH monitoring and warning procedures based on the interim products and procedures in use by PTWC since March 2022. This permanent PTWC Procedures and PTWS Products User’s Guide (Hunga Tonga – Hunga Ha`apai Volcanic Tsunami Hazard Response) is now available as IOC Technical Series, n° 188.
Estimated tsunami travel times from HTHH across the Pacific with emphasis on the first 6 hours corresponding to the initial areal extent of the threat following the detection of potentially hazardous tsunami waves on the nearest sea level gauge(s). Smaller triangles are coastal sea level gauges and the larger triangles are deep-ocean pressure gauges.
The Indonesian coast, between Banda Aceh and Meulaboh, after the earthquake and the tsunami of 26 December 2004. Photo by Evan Schneider © UN Photo
UNESCO supports Member States in improving capabilities for tsunami risk assessment, implementing early warning systems and enhancing preparedness of communities at risk. UNESCO works closely with national institutions and promotes inter-institutional and regional cooperation. Specialized regional centers provide tsunami information that, together with national analysis, is the basis of the warnings issued for the public. In addition, UNESCO promotes community-based approaches in the development of response plans and awareness campaigns which strongly involve education institutions and end-users.