9-10 November 2011

NEWS

Exercise Pacific Wave 11 Summary Report (TS 97, Vol 1 and 2, 2013) (PDF, 6.8 MB)



PacWave11 was held on 9-10 November 2011 as a multi-scenario exercise that allowed all PTWS countries to exercise. Altogether, 38 countries confirmed their participation. This was the largest number of countries to exercise since the Pacific started its international warning and communication exercises in 2006 and 2008.

The exercise aimed to strengthen each country's preparedness and response to local and regional tsunamis, which can wreak havoc in minutes as we saw in the 2009 Samoa, 2010 Chile, and 2011 Japan tsunami disasters. During PacWave11, the US's PTWC and WC/ATWC, and Japan's NWPTAC issued tsunami alerts for 10 tsunami source scenarios from around the Pacific. Countries then exercised their decision-making protocols to issue national warnings to their stakeholders and the public. In some countries, exercises continued down to the local levels and included community and school evacuations.



PacWave 11 also introduced the new tsunami advisory products of the PTWC that were proposed by the PTWS Enhanced Tsunami Warning Products Task Team and approved by ICG/PTWS-XXIV. IOC Circular Letter 2390 was issued on 13 May 2011 announcing the exercise and requesting PTWS Countries to nominate a PacWave11 focal point. IOC Manual and Guides 58 on How to Plan, Conduct, and Evaluate Tsunami Exercises was issued in July 2011. The PacWave11 Exercise Manual (IOC TS 97) was published in August 2011. UNESCO issued a media advisory on 5 November 2011.

During the post-exercise phase, each country will be submitting their evaluation questionnaire (english, spanish, due 12 February 2012) to report on their exercise and provide feedback to the new products. The PTWS Exercise Task Team, Enhancing Tsunami Products Task Team, and Steering Committee will meet jointly afterwards to discuss results. The PacWave11 Summary Report is expected to be available by June 2012.

Exercise Pacific Wave 11 was organized by UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission through its Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Pacific Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG/PTWS). ITIC and New Zealand served as PacWave11 coordinators.