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.
On 3rd November 2023, the village of Sila and Navuevu in the District of Cuvu in Nadroga Province received their certificate of recognition as a Tsunami Ready community through the UNESCO/IOC Tsunami Ready Recognition Programme under the Ocean Decade Tsunami Programme (ODTP) of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO/IOC).
During the Official Handover Ceremony of the official certificate of recognition, the Fiji Government Minister of Lands and Mineral Resources, Mr Filimoni Vosaroga highlighted that “the UNESCO/IOC Tsunami Ready Programme is timely for us as Fiji Government intend to increase the knowledge and understanding of tsunami risks and warning arrangements, especially for the vulnerable people of Fiji under the National Disaster Risk Reduction Policy 2018-2030.”
The UNESCO/IOC Tsunami Ready Recognition Program is an integral component of Fiji’s Community Based Disaster Risk Management Handbook that will guide practitioners in government and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) when preparing communities for a tsunami threat.
The UNESCO-IOC Indian Ocean Tsunami Information Centre (IOTIC) conducted National Tsunami Ready Training in Seychelles during 21-24 November 2023. The training workshop reviewed the UNESCO-IOC Tsunami Ready Recognition Programme with a view for adoption and implementation in Seychelles. Forty representatives from both national and local governmental organisations participated in the training.
The Seychelles Disaster Risk and Management Division (DRMD) hosted the event at the Seychelles Trading Company (STC) in Victoria, Mahe Island. UNESCO-IOC and the Government of Indonesia funded the training, through the Partnership Agreement between UNESCO-IOC and the Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG; 2023-2027).
Participants at Seychelles Tsunami Ready Training, Victoria, Mahe,21-24 November 2023.
The workshop was officially opened by the Minister for Local Government and Community Affairs, Minister Rose Marie Hoareau, following the welcome remarks of Prof Dwikorita Karnawati, Chair of the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG/IOTWMS) and Head of BMKG, and Dr Alexandros K Makarigakis, the Director of UNESCO Office Nairobi.
The training was led by IOTIC in contribution to UNESCO-IOC’s effort to ensure a safe ocean for ever-more resilient coastal communities, with specific objectives: 1. To introduce and promote the UNESCO-IOC Tsunami Ready Recognition Programme (TRRP) and 2. To initiate the implementation of the TRRP in Seychelles.
UNESCO-IOC's Indian Ocean Tsunami Information Centre (IOTIC) jointly with UNDRR's Africa Office and the Disaster Risk and Management Division of Seychelles conducted eyewitness interviews for the “Preserving Past Tsunami Information for Future Preparedness” initiative in conjunction with the National Tsunami Ready Training in Seychelles held on 21-24 November 2023.
Interviews with eight eyewitness of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami were conducted in two districts affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. In Anse Royale, Mahe Island six survivors were interviewed including Leonne Florentine, Denis Meringo, Melvin Robert, Patrick Gilbert, Marie Yvonne Roucou, and Nazreen Alibhaye, and in Grand Anse, Praslin Island two survivors were interviewed including Dixson Lespreance and Marcel Andre.
“It was 26 of December, a holiday, that afternoon, I was planning to bring my children to the beach. Just before we left, I got a phone call from a relative telling me to turn on the television. There was an announcement for the people to stay away from the beach because of a phenomenon that happened in Indonesia, and a wave is traveling through the Indian Ocean. We cancelled going to the beach, as my house is on a hill, we can see the beach below, I saw the wave coming and out the beach, which was very not normal at that time,” Leonne Florentine of Anse Royale, Mahe Island.
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.