New Delhi : The Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre (ITEWC) provides tsunami services to 25 Indian Ocean nations as part of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO framework, said Union Minister Harsh Vardhan.
The ITEWC was established at Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad, an autonomous body under the Ministry of Earth Sciences which continues to provide timely tsunami advisories to stakeholders.
INCOIS has introduced several innovative concepts in tsunami modelling, mapping of coastal inundation, Decision Support System, SOPs to meet the emerging challenges and provide accurate and timely tsunami early warnings. INCOIS has established a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) & Strong Motion Accelerometers in Andaman and Nicobar Islands for quick and reliable estimation of source parameters for near-source earthquakes.
In addition, INCOIS has carried out Multi-hazard Vulnerability Mapping (MHVM) along the mainland of Indian coastland MHVM atlas has been prepared. The ITEWC, INCOIS regularly conducts workshops, training sessions and tsunami mock exercises to create awareness and preparedness about the tsunamis.
In addition to workshops and training for disaster managers, ITEWC is also coordinating with coastal States/UTs to implement Tsunami Ready Programme, a concept introduced by UNESCO, at the community level. Odisha has implemented the programme in two villages (Venkatraipur and Noliasahi) and based on the national board recommendation, IOC (UNESCO) recognized these villages as Tsunami ready communities.
“We have better tsunami prediction models at ITEWC and INCOIS is continuously working towards improving its accuracy,” said Vardhan in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.
