About 40,000 persons living close to the sea on the Eastern Coast and spread across the States of Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal were evacuated as part of a mock drill exercise (‘IO Wave16’) by the Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre (ITEWC) of the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) under the Ministry of Earth Sciences on Wednesday morning.
An earthquake intensity of 9.2 was simulated at the island of Sumatra (Indonesia) at 8.30 a.m. lasting for 12 hours and 15 bulletins were issued to the disaster management authorities across the country and also to 23 other countries of the Indian Ocean through mail, fax, SMS and website to check for systems readiness of various stakeholders.
“Our first tsunami warning is issued in five minutes and in less than 10 minutes on receiving information from buoys/sea-level gauges. Tsunami is expected to hit the coast in two to two-and-a-half hours after the quake occurs on the ocean bed,” explained INCOI Director S.S.C. Shenoi and Tsunami Centre Head Srinivasa T. Kumar, giving details of the simulated computer-generated quake and tsunami alerts system to the media.
“From third bulletin onwards we can tell wave heights and precise areas,” said Dr. Shenoi. Since quakes cannot be predicted, the challenge for nations is to reduce the mortalities by taking up preventive evacuation measures. Drills before were conducted in 2009, 2011 & 2014 ever since the giant Tsunami wrecked havoc on several coastal nations in December 2004. This time it was organised by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO.
During this drill, ITEWC is operating its new ‘decision support system’ with enhanced coverage, advanced simulation capabilities, regional public bulletins and web-based feedback. UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) representatives are on the ground in India and Seychelles checking on how the alerts were being acted upon by the district authorities concerned.
“We are issuing two separate bulletins – regional and other nations across the Indian Ocean. Parts of Java sea, East Coast of South Africa and western part of Australia were included as they are not covered by other Tsunami alert systems on other oceans,” averred Dr. Kumar. Feedback obtained during the last exercise showed many depended on fax and it was decided email was faster. Current exercise feedback will be discussed on the occasion of the first World Tsumani Awareness Day November 5 being observed during the Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction to be held in New Delhi (November 2-5). Tomorrow, similar drill will be on the West Coast and a quake of 9 will be simulated in the Makran Trench south of Iran and Pakistan.
Tsunami mock drill todayOrissa – Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Puri and Ganjam – 328 villages; 30,000 people evacuated
AP – Srikakulam, Vizaianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East & West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam & SPS Nellore – Nine villages; 10,000 people
TN – Villupuram, Tirunelveli, Tiruvallur & Pudukkottai – Four villages; 2,800 persons
West Bengal – North & South 24- Paraganas & East Medinpur - Four villages; 200 persons
