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Tsunami risk

 

Tsunami Warning System for the Mediterranean area

The global alert system. Alert systems for tsunami risk or Tsunami Warning System collect, distribute and render, continuosly, all seismic signals available along with relevant sealevel data, to detect the possible occurrence and propagation of a tsnunami wavel’eventuale. Based on acquired information, they arrange prompt and clear alet notices for their competence area, then share and exchange data and information with other national and international reseach centres. 

The first and sole alert system activated includes the area of the Pacific Ocean - Pacific Tsunami Warning System and is the reference model of this sector. Created in 1968, is coordinated by IOC – Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, the board established by Unesco in 1960 to promote international cooperation for ocean and coasal areas research and protection.

Following South-East Asia seaquake of  26 December 2004, IOC received also the mandate for helping Unesco's  Indian Ocean member states creating their own tsunami alert system (IOTWS Indian Ocean Tsunami Early Warning System). It also started coordinating the establishment of analogue alert systems (EWS – Early Warning System) Caribbean (Caribe EWS) and North East Atlantic, Mediterranean and surrounding seas (NEAMTWS – North Eastern Atlantic & Med Tsunami Warning System).

NEAMTWS project for Mediterranean area alert. NEAMTWS project provides for the constitution of an alert system for seaquake risk in North-East Atlantic, Mediterranean and surrounding seas, similar to the one alreadt operating in the Pacific, Caribbean and Indian Ocean area. The project is structured as follows:

  • new monitoring networks (seismic, tide gauge, wave metric);
  • an alert chaing composed by the National Focal Point (NFP), National Alert Centres (NTWC) and Regional Alert Centres (RTWC);
  • new alert and communication infrastructures;
  • new alert and communication procedures.

Due to the complexity of the project, Unesco and IOC established a series of working groups aiming at dealing with different subjects: danger, risk and scenarios evaluation; seismic and geophysical measuments; sea level measurements; consulence, mitigation and public awareness. The main competent institutions have been invited to participate to the system organization.

Italy in the NEAMTWS project. In 2009, the Civil Protection Department was named National Focal Point for the project, i.e. a link of the alert system chain among the selected National and Regional Centres. Italy's competence area includes Malta, Slovenia, Croatia, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia, Libya e Tunisia.

The proposal of the Department - currently being implemented - starts from dangerousness studies of the competence area - acting as a Regional Centre  - and refers to the model currently operating on national scale for seaquake phenomena monitoring, that is the national alert system composed by the Functional Centres network.

The proposal suggests to adjust and improve the operating standards of monitoring networks, the necessary operating procedures adaptation and the distribution of information following standards defined by the NEAMTWS system.

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