Setting up of the Indian Tsunami Early Warning System (ITEWS): National and International Interactions for the Success of ITEWS

Author(s):  
Harsh Gupta

<p>The 26 December 2004 Sumatra earthquake of Mw 9.2 and the resultant tsunami that claimed over 2,50,000 human lives is probably the most destructive natural disaster of the 21<sup>st</sup> Century so far. Although the science of tsunami warning had advanced sufficiently by that time, with several tsunami warning centers operating in various oceans, no such system existed for the Indian Ocean. Here we present the discussions and interactions held in India and globally to convince setting up of ITEWS. False tsunami alarms subsequent to 26 December 2004 earthquake had developed a sense of scientific disbelief in the public and to a certain extent in Government of India. We demonstrated to the national and international community that there are only two stretches of faults that could host tsunamigenic earthquakes as far as the India Ocean is concerned. These are: 1) a stretch of some 4000 km of a fault segment extending from Sumatra to Andaman Islands and 2) an area of about 500 km radius off the Makaran Coast in the Arabian Sea. And if we cover these two areas with ocean bottom pressure recorders, the problem of false alarms would be reduced to a large- extant. This plan was finally agreed to and necessary financial, logistic and technical support was made available. The setting up of the ITEWS started in middle 2005 and was completed in August 2007. It has performed very efficiently since then. Over the past ~ 8 years, it monitored ~ 500 M ≥ 6.5 and provided advisories. As against the requirement placed by IOC of issuing an advisory in 10 to 15 minutes time, ITEWS has been doing it in ~ 8 minutes. Since its inception in 2007, no false alarm has been issued and it is rated among the best in the world.</p><p>IOC has designated ITEWS as the Regional Tsunami advisory Provider (TSP) Indian Ocean Regional Tsunami Center.</p>

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 1759-1780
Author(s):  
O. Boebel ◽  
M. Busack ◽  
E. R. Flueh ◽  
V. Gouretski ◽  
H. Rohr ◽  
...  

Abstract. The German-Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System (GITEWS) aims at reducing the risks posed by events such as the 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. To minimize the lead time for tsunami alerts, to avoid false alarms, and to accurately predict tsunami wave heights, real-time observations of ocean bottom pressure from the deep ocean are required. As part of the GITEWS infrastructure, the parallel development of two ocean bottom sensor packages, PACT (Pressure based Acoustically Coupled Tsunameter) and OBU (Ocean Bottom Unit), was initiated. The sensor package requirements included bidirectional acoustic links between the bottom sensor packages and the hosting surface buoys, which are moored nearby. Furthermore, compatibility between these sensor systems and the overall GITEWS data-flow structure and command hierarchy was mandatory. While PACT aims at providing highly reliable, long term bottom pressure data only, OBU is based on ocean bottom seismometers to concurrently record sea-floor motion, necessitating highest data rates. This paper presents the technical design of PACT, OBU and the HydroAcoustic Modem (HAM.node) which is used by both systems, along with first results from instrument deployments off Indonesia.


2008 ◽  
Vol 02 (03) ◽  
pp. 197-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. PRASAD KUMAR ◽  
R. RAJESH KUMAR ◽  
S. K. DUBE ◽  
A. D. RAO ◽  
TAD MURTY ◽  
...  

On 26th December 2004, the countries within the vicinity of East Indian Ocean experienced the most devastating tsunami in recorded history. This tsunami was triggered by an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 on the Richter scale at 3.4°N, 95.7°E off the coast of Sumatra in the Indonesian Archipelago at 06:29 hrs IST (00:59 hrs GMT). One of the most basic information that any tsunami warning center should have at its disposal, is information on Tsunami Travel Times (TTT) to various coastal locations surrounding the Indian Ocean rim, as well as to several island locations. Devoid of this information, no ETA's (expected times of arrival) can be included in the real-time tsunami warnings. The work describes on development of a comprehensive TTT atlas providing ETA's to various coastal destinations in the Indian Ocean rim. This Atlas was first released on the first anniversary of the Indian Ocean Tsunami and was dedicated to the victims. Application of soft computing tools like Artificial Neural Network (ANN) for prediction of ETA can be immensely useful in a real-time mode. The major advantage of using ANN in a real-time tsunami travel time prediction is its high merit in producing ETA at a much faster time and also simultaneously preserving the consistency of prediction. Overall, it can be mentioned that modern technology can prevent or help in minimizing the loss of life and property provided we integrate all essential components in the warning system and put it to the best possible use.


2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 2611-2622 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Hanka ◽  
J. Saul ◽  
B. Weber ◽  
J. Becker ◽  
P. Harjadi ◽  
...  

Abstract. The Mw = 9.3 Sumatra earthquake of 26 December 2004 generated a tsunami that affected the entire Indian Ocean region and caused approximately 230 000 fatalities. In the response to this tragedy the German government funded the German Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System (GITEWS) Project. The task of the GEOFON group of GFZ Potsdam was to develop and implement the seismological component. In this paper we describe the concept of the GITEWS earthquake monitoring system and report on its present status. The major challenge for earthquake monitoring within a tsunami warning system is to deliver rapid information about location, depth, size and possibly other source parameters. This is particularly true for coast lines adjacent to the potential source areas such as the Sunda trench where these parameters are required within a few minutes after the event in order to be able to warn the population before the potential tsunami hits the neighbouring coastal areas. Therefore, the key for a seismic monitoring system with short warning times adequate for Indonesia is a dense real-time seismic network across Indonesia with densifications close to the Sunda trench. A substantial number of supplementary stations in other Indian Ocean rim countries are added to strengthen the teleseismic monitoring capabilities. The installation of the new GITEWS seismic network – consisting of 31 combined broadband and strong motion stations – out of these 21 stations in Indonesia – is almost completed. The real-time data collection is using a private VSAT communication system with hubs in Jakarta and Vienna. In addition, all available seismic real-time data from the other seismic networks in Indonesia and other Indian Ocean rim countries are acquired also directly by VSAT or by Internet at the Indonesian Tsunami Warning Centre in Jakarta and the resulting "virtual" network of more than 230 stations can jointly be used for seismic data processing. The seismological processing software as part of the GITEWS tsunami control centre is an enhanced version of the widely used SeisComP software and the well established GEOFON earthquake information system operated at GFZ in Potsdam (http://geofon.gfz-potsdam.de/db/eqinfo.php). This recently developed software package (SeisComP3) is reliable, fast and can provide fully automatic earthquake location and magnitude estimates. It uses innovative visualization tools, offers the possibility for manual correction and re-calculation, flexible configuration, support for distributed processing and data and parameter exchange with external monitoring systems. SeisComP3 is not only used for tsunami warning in Indonesia but also in most other Tsunami Warning Centres in the Indian Ocean and Euro-Med regions and in many seismic services worldwide.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bachtiar W. Mutaqin ◽  
Ikhwan Amri ◽  
Bagas Aditya

Indonesia memiliki catatan sejarah yang panjang dengan bencana tsunami. Dari sejumlah kejadian tsunami yang ada, tsunami Samudra Hindia tahun 2004 dinilai sebagai bencana alam yang paling mematikan sepanjang abad dan paling berperan dalam mengubah paradigma manajemen kebencanaan di Indonesia. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk meninjau pola kejadian tsunami dan perkembangan manajemen bencana di Indonesia setelah tsunami tahun 2004 dengan memanfaatkan database tsunami dan tinjauan literatur. Sebanyak 22 kejadian tsunami telah tercatat di Indonesia selama 2005-2018, di mana sebagian besar lokasi tsunami terkonsentrasi di Pulau Sumatera bagian barat dan bersumber dari Samudra Hindia. Tujuh kejadian diantaranya menimbulkan dampak signifikan, termasuk dua tsunami terakhir yang dipicu oleh faktor non seismik. Sistem manajemen bencana sebenarnya telah mengalami perubahan secara besar-besaran setelah tsunami tahun 2004, mulai dari berlakunya peraturan perundang-undangan tentang penanggulangan bencana, pembentukan institusi baru untuk penanggulangan bencana, hingga konstuksi sistem peringatan dini tsunami (InaTEWS). Meskipun telah berfokus pada upaya preventif, dampak tsunami dalam beberapa tahun terakhir masih cukup besar. Hal ini dipengaruhi oleh 4 faktor utama: (1) konsentrasi penduduk yang tinggi di area bahaya tsunami, (2) terbatasnya infrastruktur diseminasi peringatan dini, (3) kurangnya kesadaran masyarakat untuk melakukan evakuasi mandiri tanpa menunggu peringatan, dan (4) sistem peringatan dini tsunami belum mempertimbangkan faktor non seismik.Indonesia has a long history with the tsunami. From numerous tsunami events in the world, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was considered as the deadliest natural disaster of the century and had the most role in changing the paradigm of disaster management in Indonesia. This study aims to review the spatial pattern of tsunami events and the development of disaster management in Indonesia following the 2004 tsunami through the tsunami database and literature review. At least there are 22 tsunami events were recorded in Indonesia in the period of 2005-2018, where most of its locations were concentrated on the western part of Sumatra Island and sourced from the Indian Ocean. We had identified that seven of these events have significant impacts, including the last two tsunamis triggered by non-seismic factors. The disaster management system has actually improved drastically following the 2004 tsunami, such as the enactment of laws and regulations on disaster management, the establishment of special institutions for disaster management, and the construction of a tsunami early warning system (InaTEWS). Although it has focused on preventive measures, tsunami impacts in recent years are still quite large. This situation is affected by four factors: (1) high and dense population in the tsunami hazard area, (2) limited infrastructure for early warning dissemination, (3) lack of public awareness to conduct evacuations following the disaster events, and (4) early warning systems for tsunami has not considered yet the non-seismic factors.


2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Indrajit Pal ◽  
Subhajit Ghosh ◽  
Itesh Dash ◽  
Anirban Mukhopadhyay

Purpose This paper aims to provide a general overview of the international Tsunami warning system mandated by the United Nations, particularly on cataloging past studies and a strategic focus in the Indian Ocean, particularly on the Bay of Bengal region. Design/methodology/approach Present research assimilates the secondary non-classified data on the Tsunami warning system installed in the Indian Ocean. Qualitative review and exploratory research methodology have been followed to provide a holistic profile of the Tsunami rarly warning system (TEWS) and its role in coastal resilience. Findings The study finds the need for strategic focus to expand and interlink regional early warning cooperation mechanisms and partnerships to enhance capacities through cooperation and international assistance and mobilize resources necessary to maintain the TEWS in the Indian Ocean region. The enhanced capacity of the TEWS certainly improves the resilience of Indian Ocean coastal communities and infrastructures. Originality/value The study is original research and useful for policy planning and regional cooperation on data interlinkages for effective TEWS in the Indian Ocean region.


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