Cook Islands To Get Tsunami Warning Check
(SOPAC Release)
The Cook Islands will this week embark on an assessment of its tsunami warning and mitigation system, with the aim of reviewing existing arrangements and identifying opportunities for enhancement. The assessment workshop runs from 10 to 13 June 2008 at the Catholic Basement in Rarotonga.
The assessment is funded by the Australian Government through the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), and will be conducted with the support of a visiting team of experts in the fields of tsunami warnings, emergency management, regional disaster management, data and warning communications from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (the Bureau), the Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) and Emergency Management Australia (EMA). These agencies will be working closely with Emergency Management Cook Islands and Cook Islands Meteorological Service.
The devastating effects of tsunami were clearly evident from the April 2007 Solomon Islands tsunami, which claimed the lives of 52 people. Cooks Islands Meteorological Director, Mr Arona Ngari, said that earthquakes occurring along the Kermadec and Tonga trenches, as well as other distant Pacific sources, could generate tsunami with the potential to impact upon the Cook Islands.
Mr Ngari said that the workshop would provide “a clear understanding and appreciation of the Cook Islands’ capacity to respond to tsunami events and what is specifically needed to enhance the Cook Islands’ preparedness and effectiveness for future events.”
Tsunami messages for the Cook Islands and the wider Pacific Ocean are issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre (PTWC) in Hawaii. Individual countries then use this advice to distribute national tsunami warnings if needed.
“A tsunami warning system has been in place for the Cook Islands for more than 20 years. The system is arranged through the PTWC with communication links to the Cook Islands Meteorological Service and the Cook Islands Airport Authority.”
“The Cook Islands participation in the first end-to-end Pacific-wide tsunami exercise in 2006 (“Pacific Wave”) showed some improvements could be made in conveying tsunami warnings nationally to local communities and large organisations such as schools and the public sector.”
SOPAC disaster risk advisor, Noud Leenders says that “the Cook Islands, like the rest of the Pacific region, require effective, integrated and people-focused early warning systems. A needs analysis, with input from all stakeholders, would identify priorities for improvements”.
Team Leader Noel Puzey, from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, said that “the tsunami assessment would assist key Cook Islands’ personnel complete an analysis of the country’s tsunami warning and mitigation system, focusing on a range of topics including tsunami warning processes, community and media awareness programmes, emergency response and recovery plans. Many of the processes and infrastructure used for tsunami warnings will be relevant for other hazards such as cyclones”.
EMCI Director Charles Carlson acknowledges the professional support provided by Emergency Management Australia, AUSAID, Australian Bureau of Meteorology and SOPAC.
“This workshop will certainly enhance EMCI and Cook Islands MET office in addressing the issue of Tsunami and early warning systems in the Cook Islands”, says Carlson. “We are now taking an all hazard approach instead of focusing on cyclones only and Tsunami is certainly one of those hazards that can do an incredible damage to our island nation”.
Fourteen SOPAC Member Countries are participating in the regional project including the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. Similar assessments have been successfully completed in Fiji, Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa and Solomon Islands.
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