The ITIC Training Program on Tsunami Early Warning and Mitigation Systems has focused since 2005 on improving operating procedures for tsunami response as essential for successful tsunami warning. While infrequent, tsunamis can be extremely deadly because of their quick onset and immediate impact in minutes. In order to warn quickly and have the public evacuate when necessary, agencies must pre-plan and have protocols and procedures which are well-known to every stakeholder and to the public, and which are well-exercised and practiced. Communities must know their hazard and risk, and prepare in advance, so that every person can recognize the tsunami danger and know what to do to save their lives. Over the last 15+ years, with improvements in data quality, quantity, and real-time availability, PTWC’s response time has dropped significantly from an hour to 5-7 minutes for tsunami events. Scientific understanding has increased and better techniques have been developed to quickly characterize the earthquake and numerically model the tsunami. In 2014, the PTWC implemented Enhanced Products that include wave forecasts in both text and graphical formats, and that require each country to explicitly assign Warning / Watch status in their own messages to their coasts. In 2019, the Japan Northwest Pacific Tsunami Advisory Center expanded its coverage to include Papua New Guinea and upgraded its services to include enhanced graphical products. Since 2017, UNESCO IOC has piloted Tsunami Ready, a performance-based Community Recognition Program, providing countries in the Pacific a tool to improve the readiness of coastal communities. The training will focus on the end-to-end tsunami warning and emergency response chain, focusing on the importance of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for enabling consistent and rapid tsunami warning and response. SOP development is a dynamic process, and each event is unique in its generation and impact, and so also in its response. In every event and with every tsunami exercise, we improve our response and learn a little more about the science of tsunamis and how to better mitigate against their impact. At the local level, communities recognized as Tsunami Ready by UNESCO IOC have prepared beforehand by identifying their hazard and risk, developing evacuation maps, conducting regular exercises to practice their plans, sponsoring multiple education and awareness events, and installing reliable methods to receive and issue warnings.

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