19 March 2020
The annual Regional Tsunami Exercise, CARIBE WAVE 20, was conducted on 19 March 2020 at 1400 UTC. Over 4,000 people from across the entire Caribbean basin participated in this exercise. UNESCO/IOC Intergovernmental Coordination Group for Tsunamis and Other Coastal Hazards for the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions (CARIBE EWS) Member States and Territories had two scenarios from which to choose: a tsunami generated by a Mw 8.0 earthquake in Jamaica and a tsunami generated by a Mw 8.5 earthquake in Portugal. Tsunami exercises such as CARIBE WAVE are important to validate and advance end-to-end tsunami preparedness across the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions. All 48 CARIBE EWS Member States and Territories, stakeholders, and communities at risk are encouraged to plan for and participate in tsunami exercises.
Final Documents | Links |
Evaluation Report (IOC TS 151, Vol 2, June 2020) | |
Supplement Report | |
Media Report | |
Final Presentation | |
Exercise Documents | Links |
Participant Handbook (IOC TS 151, Vol 1, December 2019) | |
Announcement (IOC Circular Letter 2789, 7 January 2020) | |
Post-exercise questionnaire | |
Jamaica scenario | KMZ |
Portugal scenario | KMZ |
Supporting Documents | Links |
User's Guide for the PTWC Enhanced Products for CARIBE-EWS (IOC TS 135, 2017) |
PDF, EN |
PTWC Communication Plan (2006) | |
How to Plan, Conduct and Evaluate Tsunami Exercises (IOC Manuals and Guides 58, 2013) | PDF, EN PDF, SP |
Standard Guidelines for the Tsunami Ready Recognition Programme (IOC Manuals and Guides 74, April 2022) | |
Multi-annual Community Tsunami Exercise Programme (IOC Manuals and Guides 86, September 2021) | PDF, EN PDF, SP PDF, FR |
Users' Guide for the Central America Tsunami Advisory Centre (CATAC) (2019 draft) | PDF, SP |
CARIBE WAVE webinars
Two series of webinars are held for Member States’ stakeholders prior to the exercise. The first webinar is dedicated to explaining the exercise’s objectives, tsunami scenarios, and tsunami products, whereas the second webinar focuses on communication systems and the exercise evaluation. They are conducted in English, Spanish, and French to facilitate the participation of all the countries. All the presentations from the webinars are made available.
Webinars | Links |
Webinar 1 | |
English (21 January 2020) | Presentation |
Spanish (22 January 2020) | Presentation |
French (23 January 2020) | Presentation |
Webinar 2 | |
English (26 February 2020) | Presentation |
Spanish (27 February 2020) | Presentation |
French (28 February 2020) | Presentation |
Additional Resources | Links |
Caribbean Tsunami Information Center (CTIC) | Website |
Central America Tsunami Advisory Center (CATAC) | Website |
UNESCO/IOC list of designated national agencies responsible for the coordination of international tsunami warning and mitigation activities | Website |
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)/World Data Service (WDS) Global Historical Tsunami Database | Website |
NOAA Tsunami Program | Website |
TsunamiZone | Website |
UNESCO IOC Tsunami Page | Website |
UNESCO IOC Tsunami Ready Recognition Programme | Website |
TsunamiZone | Website |
US Tsunami Warning System | Website |
For questions please contact:
christa.vonh@noaa.gov – Manager ITIC-CAR
elizabeth.vanacore@upr.edu – CARIBE WAVE Chair
a.brome@unesco.org – Programme Officer CTIC