Seychelles takes part in tsunami exercise

Seychelles takes part in tsunami exercise

10-September-2014

Different agencies took part in yesterday’s exercise

Seychelles joined 23 other countries spanning from Australia to South Africa in taking part in a United Nations-backed simulation tsunami exercise yesterday to test their capacity to forecast and tackle similar disasters.

The exercise was organised a decade after the strongest tsunami in living memory hit the region. Those who took part in the Indian Ocean wide exercise gathered at the Divisions of the Disaster and Risk Management offices at Mont Fleuri.

The Divisions of Risk and Disaster Management along with the Seychelles Meteorological Office (Meteo) and other partners seized the opportunity to test their standard operating procedures and communication systems.

For the first day, yesterday, the exercise was functional one, but today, part of Anse Boileau’s district services will be tested.
It was at its ninth session held in Jakarta, Indonesia in November 2012 that the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG/IOTWS) decided to organise an Indian Ocean Wave Exercise (IOWave14) in the second half of 2014 and established a task team to plan and conduct the exercise. At its recent intersessional meeting held in Hyderabad, India on June 27, the task team decided to conduct the IOWave14 exercise on September 9-10, 2014.

IOWave14 is being used to simulate Indian Ocean countries being put in a tsunami warning situation and require the national tsunami warning centre (NTWC) and (optionally) the disaster management organisation (DMO) in each member state to implement their standard operating procedures. The exercise comprises two scenarios on successive days, one in the eastern Indian Ocean and the other in the north-western Indian Ocean.

The first scenario simulates a magnitude 9.1 earthquake south of Java, Indonesia and the second scenario simulates a magnitude 9.0 earthquake in the Makran Trench south of Iran and Pakistan. Both scenarios will generate simulated tsunami waves travelling across the whole Indian Ocean

Regional tsunami service providers in India, Indonesia and Australia are making exercise bulletins and detailed tsunami threat advice available on their password-protected websites during the events, and are send notification messages to national tsunami warning centres as the data is updated during the events.

http://www.nation.sc/article.html?id=242953

Tsunami awareness and preparedness

17-August-2016
Key agencies sharpen skills


Some 30 representatives from key agencies and organisations closely involved in sending out early warning tsunami information, educating, evacuating, rescuing and transporting people in the event of a tsunami are following a four-day training to strengthen their capacity and boost their knowledge and skills.
The training has been organised by the Division of Risk and Disaster Management (DRDM) in partnership with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the Unesco and the Indian Ocean Tsunami Information Centre of Jakarta, Indonesia (IOTIC).
The training is being conducted by a team of four international tsunami experts and researchers as well as local risk and disaster officials from the DRDM.
Ardito Kodijat, the head of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Information Centre in Jakarta is leading the team as well as the training.
“Tsunamis remain a big threat to Indian Ocean countries and they can happen anytime thus the need to continue building on the awareness and preparedness capacities of agencies and organisations in all countries at risk,” Mr Kodijat said in introductory remarks before the start of the training.
He noted that the tsunami experience coastal nations went through in 2004 has forced all of them to become aware of the deadly threat that can emerge from the same ocean on which they depend heavily for their livelihood.
Paul Labaleine, the director general of the DRDM, officially launched the four-day training which is taking place at the Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay Resort & Casino.
“Tsunamis don’t happen often but when they do occur their impacts are really devastating so the need to be prepared and ready to respond,” Mr Labaleine stressed.
He added that even though early warning systems are put in place it is important to continuously conduct preparedness exercises to test the systems and address shortcomings.
During the training those taking part will also learn more about the tsunami hazards for Seychelles and the region, tsunami mitigation measures, risks reduction and management measures among other related issues.
They will also learn more about the forthcoming Indian Ocean Wave Exercise 2016 expected to take place here before the end of the year. This is an exercise which evaluates the readiness of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System and identifies changes that can improve its effectiveness.

http://www.nation.sc/article.html?id=250649

Tsunami preparedness workshop

22-August-2016


Education, timely warning key to escaping tsunamis

All the different measures taken by coastal countries after the deaths, devastations and desolation caused by the 2004 tsunamis need to be continuously updated, reinforced and tested through well-established standard operating procedures.
This will ensure that all key ministries, agencies involved in preparedness, education, awareness, communication, early warning and evacuation will know exactly what to do and how to react and respond in case a tsunami like the one in 2004 was to strike again.
In view of the increasing adverse effects of climate change countries should also continuously step up measures which prevent new tsunami risks and reduce existing ones through mitigation measures.
All these came out of a four-day training on tsunami, preparedness, education, early warning and response for key stakeholders organised last week by the Division of Risk and Disaster Management (DRDM). It was with the close collaboration of Unesco, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) and the Indian Ocean Tsunami Information Centre (IOTIC) based in Jakarta, Indonesia and funded by the Malaysian Funds in Trust Projects.
“While we all remember the 2004 tsunamis when we had nothing in terms of education and preparedness, today we can proudly say we have done a lot of work to better prepare ourselves from the risks coming from the sea,” said DRDM’s director general Paul Labaleine, who also stressed that a lot more needs to be done in terms of education to continuously raise awareness of the population on the threats coming from the sea and seeking sustainable ways to step up risk reduction as well as mitigation.
At the end of the training he commended the different agencies and organisations for releasing their people to follow such an important training. He stressed on the importance of understanding the consequences of tsunamis noting that infrastructures can always be built back using tsunami resistant means and measures but human lives lost cannot be replaced.
“In cases of disasters and emergencies like tsunamis it is not business as usual,” said Ardito Kodijat, head of the IOTIC.
He also stressed on the need for countries to be always prepared, build their awareness and human resource capacity, have in place good evacuation plans in order to minimise the number of deaths through managing and reducing risks which he said should be a priority for governments and should be mainstreamed in policies and strategies in order to be financially sustained.
One of the trainers, Nora Gale of the Unesco IOC, also had words of encouragement for those who took part in the training, calling on them to take the education to their organisations.
A series of recommendations came out of the training and those who took part have called on stakeholders, particularly those involved in tourism-related businesses, to be more educated and aware of the Seychelles Disaster Reduction Management Act, the need for tsunami signages, for focal persons in different agencies to be clearly identified and database of such to be regularly updated, Ile Perseverance to be used as a pilot in evacuation exercises which should be carried out more often to test Seychelles’ preparedness, for evacuation routes and centres to be clearly defined, for tourism institutions to have their own evacuation centres, for more education on colour coding alerts especially for vulnerable groups like disabled and elderly.
Those who took part in the training also learned more on the forthcoming Indian Ocean Wave (IOWave2016) exercise to take place early September in 28 coastal countries including Seychelles.

http://www.nation.sc/article.html?id=250716

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http://www.nation.sc/article.html?id=250713

Airport readies for disasters

23-August-2016
Minister Morgan speaking at the launch of the trainingSome 40 people including managers from airport operations, aviation safety experts as well as representatives of key disaster management authorities are following a four-day training to strengthen the Seychelles International Airport’s capacity to handle logistical challenges in the aftermath of natural disasters.
The official opening of the training, which starts today, was held yesterday afternoon at the Eden Bleu Hotel on Eden Island.
An initiative of the Deutshe Post DHL Group, the world’s leading mail logistics group supported and funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the German government, the training aims to prepare airports in disaster-prone areas to handle the surge of incoming relief goods and traffic after disasters.
The training has been conducted at 33 airports around the world since it was developed in 2009.
Seychelles is the 34th country which is benefiting from the training.
It also enables the various organisations and aid agencies to better understand the processes at the airport in the aftermath of a disaster which will make easier relief efforts and enhance overall coordination.
It is expected that at the end of the training a comprehensive report to follow through leading to an action plan to better deal with the consequences of natural disasters will be drafted.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Transport Joel Morgan launched the training in the presence of the Minister for Environment, Energy and Climate Change Didier Dogley and other guests including airport and Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) staff.
The Get Airports Ready for Disaster (GARD) trainers who will be conducting the training are experienced experts from Deutsche Post DHL Group and are all volunteers. They provide relevant materials and training while the UNDP handles project management and coordinates activities with government agencies on site.
Chris Weeks, DHL director of humanitarian affairs who will be leading the training, shared with everyone present his first experience after the 2004 tsunami aftermath at Colombo International Airport.

http://www.nation.sc/article.html?id=250734

Tsunami exercise today

07-September-2016
If during the day you hear a tsunami warning from alarms and church bells followed by police, fire services and ambulance sirens please do not panic.
The commotion will be only as a result of an anti-tsunami exercise!
The exercise is to cover areas of Mahé, Cerf Island, Silhouette, Praslin and La Digue and will involve public organisations, private companies and hotels.
The question that automatically comes to mind is: Is the timing right for such an exercise on the eve of the legislative election? The Division of Risk and Disaster Management (DRDM) has explained that it had no choice as the exercise is being organised by the International Coordination Group for the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG/IOTWMS) and will involve 28 countries simultaneously.
The Coordination Group was established by Unesco’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) after the December 2004 Indonesia earthquake and the consequent tsunami which affected the Indian Ocean. Its aim is to promote exchange of seismic and sea level data for rapid tsunami detection and analysis in order to provide warnings and coordinate mitigation efforts among its member states.
The exercise which is being locally coordinated by the DRDM with the collaboration of other stakeholders will be conducted in the presence of observers from ICG/IOTWMS.
“The dates have been chosen by the IOC Unesco in agreement with all member states,” explained DRDM’s information and communication manager Regina Prosper.
“We always need to exercise in order to be prepared. Tsunamis may not occur often, but when they do they can affect coasts, sometimes across an entire ocean. The devastating impact of the December 26, 2004 Indonesia earthquake and the Indian Ocean tsunami tragically demonstrated what can happen without an effective tsunami warning system in place,” Miss Prosper added.
Initially, the exercise had been planned to go through two days – today and tomorrow – as is the case for other countries taking part. But according to Miss Prosper, the DRDM chose not to as much as possible disrupt the voting preparations or scare the population out on the eve of the election.
DRDM director general Paul Labaleine has meanwhile called on public cooperation, as he says it is important to get the exercise right in order to know exactly what to do in the case of a real tsunami situation.

http://www.nation.sc/article.html?id=250939