UNESCO has called for increased efforts and investment in tsunami preparedness to achieve 100 per cent tsunami-ready coastal communities worldwide by 2030, including 26 in India.
An appeal was made on Friday at the gathering of the world’s leading tsunami experts and policymakers in Indonesia to mark 20 years since the deadly 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. A dedicated roadmap was presented.
During the four-day UNESCO international conference, experts acknowledged that the world is “significantly better prepared today,” thanks to actions implemented under the coordination of UNESCO and its partners in tsunami science, warning systems, and community preparedness.
“Together, we have succeeded in making the world safer and better prepared for tsunamis. We have set up early warning systems and more than 30 countries have already benefitted from UNESCO’s Tsunami Ready programme to train their populations. But there is still much work to be done. We call on all our member states to continue their investments to ensure that coastal communities can respond swiftly and effectively when the threat arises,” said Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO.
The UNESCO conference concluded with the adoption of the Banda Aceh Statement, a commitment by global experts and policymakers to improve the global tsunami warning and mitigation system for the next decade.
This statement calls on states and civil society to drastically step up their investments and efforts to achieve 100 per cent of Tsunami Ready communities across the world by 2030. Participants emphasised that reaching this universal status is a crucial goal, as more than 700 million people live in coastal regions vulnerable to tsunami events.
As a testament to this collective commitment, the conference saw several new local communities across the region officially recognised as Tsunami Ready, including 26 in India and 12 in Indonesia. A day was also devoted to real-time drills in two Tsunami Ready coastal villages near Banda Aceh, to test the effectiveness of the training.
The conference also highlighted the critical role of UNESCO’s Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (IOTWMS) and the Organisation’s continued support for countries at high risk.
Over the past two decades, UNESCO has worked to expand this system to all regions of the world, developing a vast network of state-of-the-art monitoring infrastructure.
Today, tens of thousands of seismometers, about 1,200 active sea level stations, submarine cable observatories, and deep-ocean tsunami buoys help to detect and measure large tsunamis with sufficient lead time to alert distant coastlines.
