The Instituto Español de Oceanografía, the Protección Civil y Emergencias in Spain, the Instituto Geográfico Nacional and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO are organizing an information workshop in Madrid, Spain, 25-26 September 2017 on the North-eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean and Connected Seas Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (NEAMTWS), the planned Tsunami Wave Exercise - NEAMWave17 (October 2017) and the World Tsunami Awareness Day (5 November 2017).
Through IOC Assembly Resolution XXIII.14. UNESCO-IOC was mandated by its Member States to facilitate the expansion of global coverage of Tsunami Warning and Mitigation Systems (TWS) and to co-ordinate the establishment of a TWS for the North-eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean and Connected Seas (NEAMTWS). The need to develop NEAMTWS has also been recognized in the European Council Conclusions of 6 December 2007 (15473/07) and 16 June 2008 (7562/08). ICG/NEAMTWS is composed of 39 Member States of both Mediterranean, North-eastern Atlantic and Black Sea regions.
Four Tsunami Service Providers (TSPs) are presently operating on a 24/7 basis (in France, Greece, Italy and Turkey). The four providers were accredited at the thirteenth session of the ICG/NEAMTWS (Bucharest, Romania 26–28 September 2016). These centers provide a tsunami service to those NEAMTWS Member States wishing to subscribe to it.
The first tsunami exercise, NEAMWave12, was undertaken in October 2012 involving 18 NEAMTWS Member States including some Civil Protection Authorities. A second tsunami excercise (NEAMWave14) was organised and conducted in October 2014. These exercises simulate realistic tsunami events that enable different parts of the region to work out and test their responses in a meaningful way.
Tsunamis are rare, but they can be extremely deadly. In the past 100 years, more than 260,000 people have perished in 58 separate tsunamis world wide. At an average of 4,600 deaths per disaster, the toll has surpassed any other natural hazard. Such a stark impact is not inevitable, however. Early warning systems can save lives. Equally important is community and individual understanding about how and where to evacuate before a wave strikes. Tsunamis know no borders, making international cooperation key for deeper political and public understanding of risk reduction measures. As a result, the UN General Assembly has designated 5 November the World Tsunami Awareness Day. The theme for this year is focused on Target (b) of the Sendai Framework which is to: Substantially reduce the number of affected people globally by 2030, aiming to lower the average global figure per 100,000 in the decade 2020–2030 compared to the period 2005–2015. Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction 2015 - 2030