Paleoflood Hydrology
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PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING AND MITIGATION SYSTEM (PTWS) Laura S. L. Kong UNESCO/IOC-NOAA International Tsunami Information Center, Honolulu, HI, USA
Definition The Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Pacific Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG/PTWS) was started in 1965 as a subsidiary body of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO/IOC). It is comprised of Member States bordering and within the Pacific Ocean, and other interested Member States. The ICG/PTWS acts to coordinate international tsunami warning and mitigation activities. One of its most important activities is to ensure the timely issuance of tsunami warnings in the Pacific. This requires cooperation in sea level and seismic networks and data sharing, standardization and understanding of tsunami threat criteria, and effective dissemination of useful tsunami information. Comprehensive tsunami mitigation programs require complementary and sustained activities in tsunami hazard risk assessment, tsunami warning and emergency response, and preparedness. Stakeholder involvement and coordination is essential, and community-based, peoplecentered mitigation activities will help to build tsunami resiliency. The IOC (Paris, France) serves as the PTWS Secretariat, and coordinates the overall implementation of the global tsunami warning and mitigation system. After the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, the PTWS played a large role in guiding the development of regional systems in the Indian Ocean, Caribbean, and Mediterranean. The International Tsunami Information Centre (ITIC, Hawaii,USA, startedin1965),apartnershipof UNESCO/IOC
and the USA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), serves as a technical and capacity building resource. The Director is provided by USA and since 1998, the Associate Director by Chile. The ITIC monitors the PTWS’s effectiveness in order to recommend and facilitate improvements in the timeliness and accuracy of tsunami advisories, works closely with the international tsunami warning centers to enhance PTWS operations and directly with Member States to strengthen their national systems, facilitates technology transfer through training, workshops, and other capacity building, and acts as an information resource on historical tsunamis, education, and awareness. NOAA’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC, Hawaii, USA, started in 1949 after the 1946 Aleutian Islands tsunami) serves as the operational headquarters of the tsunami warning system. The Northwest Pacific Tsunami Advisory Center operated by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA, started in 1952 as a national center and as NWPTAC in 2005) and NOAA’s West Coast/ Alaska Tsunami Warning Center (WC/ATWC, started in 1967 after the 1964 Alaska tsunami) work with PTWC to provide international tsunami alerts for the Pacific and its marginal seas. The messages are advisory to designated national authorities, as each country is individually responsible for issuing warnings a
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