Community preparedness is vitally important because it enables a rapid appropriate response to both official warnings and the natural signs of a possible tsunami. This is critical for saving lives for all tsunami events, and it is even more essential for locally generated tsunamis which can arrive in minutes and before an official tsunami warning is issued by authorities.
Two important components of preparedness are science-based tsunami inundation maps and community-developed tsunami evacuation maps and plans. Communities are best prepared when they are aware of their tsunami hazard, and together decide how they will be most ready for the next tsunami.
To describe the steps required to produce reliable and practical community-level tsunami evacuation maps, the IOC published Preparing for Community Tsunami Evacuations: from inundation to evacuation maps, response plans and exercises (UNESCO IOC Manuals and Guides 82, 2019) as a reference and training manual.
The manual was developed as an activity of the IOC Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Pacific Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG/PTWS) and its Working Group on Disaster Management, Preparedness, and Risk Reduction, with input from the IOC Working Group on Tsunamis and Other Hazards related to Sea-Level Warning and Mitigation Systems (TOWS-WG) Task Team on Disaster Management and Preparedness.
It is based on the pilot, Tsunami Evacuation Maps, Plans, and Procedures (TEMPP) Training Pilot, that was conducted in Honduras and Central America, led by the International Tsunami Informnation Center, between 2015 and 2017. In February 2017, with the completion of the TEMPP trainings, Honduras was able to recognize the Pacific community of Cedeño as UNESCO IOC Tsunami Ready. The Pilot and effort was generously supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC).
Targeted trainees were Tsunami National Contacts, National Tsunami Warning Centres and Tsunami Warning Focal Points, staff from Disaster Management Agencies and other governmental institutions (local and national) and leaders from civil society organizations. Tsunami modelling training targeted physical scientists and oceanographers in governmental institutions and universities. The direct outcomes for the participating country include:
IOC MG 82 consists of the Guide and a digital Supplement. The Guide provides step-by-step information on the four evacuation planning modules (Modules 1 to 4), and a summary on tsunami disaster risk reduction, evacuation, and the UNESCO/IOC Tsunami Ready community preparedness recognition pilot.
The Supplement consists of two types of content:
IOC MG 82 and the Supplement are available below and also from the IOC Tsunami Unit.
Document Title | Format/Type |
IOC Manual and Guides 82: Preparing for Community Tsunami Evacuations: From Inundation to Evacuation Maps, Response Plans,
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PDF (27.7 MB) PDF (3.2 MB) |
Number
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Specialized Document Name
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Module
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I |
Using ComMIT (MOST model) for tsunami inundation modelling for evacuation mapping: Summary, Manual, and Appendices (abridged requirements, in Spanish) ComMIT was used in the TEMPP1 Pilot training course for inundation modelling to support evacuation map-making. ComMIT was subsequently used and updated through TEMPP trainings in 2017-2019. General information on ComMIT can be found at USA NOAA, https://nctr.pmel.noaa.gov/ComMIT/ (Accessed 7 November 2019) |
1 |
II |
Tsunami Coastal Assessment Tool (TsuCAT) for scenario identification, v4, USA NOAA, ITIC, 2019, Summary and Manual. TsuCAT can be used to identify worst-case scenarios, and to develop scenarios for tsunami exercises using the PTWC Enhanced Products as message triggers for national and local tsunami warning decision-making. http://itic.ioc-unesco.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=2239&Itemid=2763 (Accessed 7 November 2019) |
1, 3, 4 |
III |
How to Create Evacuation Maps from Inundation Maps – from ComMIT to QGIS, Manual and Tutorial This Manual describes the export of ComMIT results into the open-source QGIS software to digitally create tsunami evacuation maps using standard formats, colour palettes, and symbology. This document is available as Supplement 2 of the guide (IOC/MG/2019/82). This Manual was used in the TEMPP 3 Pilot training. The Manual was subsequently reviewed and updated through TEMPP trainings in 2017-2019. The most recent version is available from ITIC TEMPP web site. http://itic.ioc-unesco.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=2166&Itemid=2640 |
2 |
IV |
Town-Watching Tsunami Evacuation Checklist This example was used in the TEMPP 3 Pilot training. This example provides a template for ground-truthing tsunami evacuation maps through community engagement and actual tsunami evacuation route walking. A copy is also contained within the Supplement to Programme Modules. |
2 |
V |
How to Create Community Tsunami Response Plans This template was used in the TEMPP 4 Pilot training. |
3 |
VI |
Awareness Materials – Warning and Evacuation information, Family Plan card (examples) These materials were developed in the TEMPP 4 and 5 Pilot trainings. TEMPP 4: https://oceanexpert.org/event/1943 TEMPP 5: https://oceanexpert.org/event/1984 |
3, 4 |
VII |
How to Create Community Tsunami Exercises This example and template was developed in the TEMPP 4 and implemented in the TEMPP 5 Pilot training. TEMPP 4: https://oceanexpert.org/event/1943 TEMPP 5: https://oceanexpert.org/event/1984 |
4 |
VIII |
How to conduct Tsunami Drill flyer (example) This example and template was developed in the TEMPP 5 Pilot training. |
4 |