DEVASTATING TSUNAMIS IN THE PACIFIC

The Pacific Ocean and its adjacent marginal seas are the largest, most diverse, and most tsunami-prone of any of the earth’s oceans. Pacific Ocean nations face and must be prepared for distant, and local tsunami threats. In the past, Member States depended primarily on the international advice services of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC), Northwest Pacific Tsunami Advisory Centre (NWPTAC), and West Coast / Alaska Tsunami Warning Center (WC/ATWC) to inform their National Tsunami Warning Centre decisions.  But lessons learned recently on how to best prepare for local and regional tsunamis acknowledges that every country needs tp address the threat themselves through improved and expanded National Tsunami Warning Centre and Disaster Management Office capacities targeting coastal communities, and through formal regional collaboration. On 11 March 2011, the Pacific experienced and responded to its third destructive local tsunami in three years.  Following the 29 September 2009 Samoa Tsunami that killed 192 in Samoa, American Samoa, and Tonga, and the 27 February 2010 Chile Tsunami that killed 124 in Chile, Japan is now facing a tremendous effort to analyze its national response and preparedness in order to better mitigate its tsunamis losses in the future.

South Pacific Tsunami Event 29 September 2009

Chile Tsunami Event 27 February 2010

Japan Tsunami Event 11 March 2011