Asia-Pacific

Pacific-wide tsunami exercise to be held in Nov

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-05-24 21:37

BEIJING - The Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Pacific Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG/PTWS) will organize a Pacific-wide tsunami exercise in November to test the preparedness and performance of more than 30 Pacific countries.

The exercise, dubbed PacWave 11, aims to test the countries' tsunami warning systems as well as their disaster prevention and mitigation systems, ICG/PTWS Chairman Giorgio de la Torre said here at the organization's 24th session Tuesday.

The event will also explore ways to better help less-developed countries to improve their tsunami warning, prevention and reduction systems, according to Torre.

In contrast to past exercises which simulated responses to one type of tsunami, the 2011 exercise will simulate the reaction to nine tsunamis in different locations, said Yu Fujiang, deputy director of China's National Marine Environmental Forecast Center, at the session which runs from May 24 to 27.

Tsunamis in the Manila Bay, the Ryukyu Islands and the sea areas of the Philippines could devastate China's east and south sea areas, according to Yu.

"This will be an all-round examination of China's tsunami warning and mitigation systems," he said.

During the meeting Chinese delegates called for the establishment of a sub-regional tsunami warning and mitigation system for the South China Sea.

The sub-regional tsunami warning and mitigation system, concerning nine regional countries, could effectively promote the region's tsunami warning and mitigation capability, said Zhang Zhanhai, director of the international affairs bureau of China's State Oceanic Administration (SOA).

The proposed sub-regional system will include a joint tsunami observation system, an international information exchange system, a regional seismic observation system, a regional tsunami warning center and a multi-national disaster prevention and mitigation system, Zhang said.

Although improvements have been made to the tsunami warning and mitigation systems in most Pacific countries, the tsunami warning system in the South China Sea remains absent, according to Yu.

The region currently depends on the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC), the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center (WCATWC), and the Japanese Northwest Pacific Tsunami Consultation Center, Yu said.

Established as a subsidiary body of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) under the United Nationals Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1968, the ICG/PTWS organizes tsunami exercises biennially in the Pacific region.