The contribution of international scientific cooperation and related institutions to effective governance for the oceans: the cases of regional tsunami early warning systems and the Argo Project - Ocean Sustainability in the 21st Century - page 276

8.3 Tsunami early warning and mitigation systems: the
emergence of new regional regimes?
On 26 December 2004 an earthquake of magnitude 9.2 on the Richter scale, with its epi-
centre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, triggered a tsunami that affected several
countriesoftheIndianOcean,includingIndonesia,SriLanka,India,Thailand,theMaldives,
Somalia, Myanmar, Malaysia, the Seychelles, and others. The earthquake was the third most
powerful earthquake recorded since 1900 and the death toll from the tsunami reached about
200,000 people, including tourists from Australia and Europe (Japan, UNESCO and UNU,
2012 ) .
Since 1965, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO/IOC) has been in charge of
coordinating the International Pacific Tsunami Warning System (PTWS) (IOC, 1965 ), es-
tablished after the tsunami that on 22 May 1960 devastated the countries of the Pacific
Rim following an earthquake with magnitude 9.5 on the Richter scale, off southern Chile,
whichcausedthedeathsofmorethan1600peoplearoundthePacific(NOAA/NGDCWDC,
2012 ) . In 2005, the 23rd session of the IOC Assembly adopted three resolutions concerning
the establishment of early warning and mitigation systems through intergovernmental pro-
cesses in the Indian Ocean (IOC, 2005b ), the Caribbean and adjacent seas (IOC, 2005c ), and
the north-eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and connected seas (IOC, 2005d ). In this con-
text, the IOC Assembly also launched a process for defining the core elements of a global
framework for early warning systems for tsunamis and other ocean-related hazards (IOC,
2005e ).
Of over 2100 recorded tsunami events between 1410 BC and 2011 ( Figure 8.1 ), it
should be noted that 20% of all tsunamis recorded are considered 'very doubtful' and 24%,
'doubtful'. The Pacific Ocean accounts for 61%, the Mediterranean and Black Sea, 22%, the
Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, 11%, and the Indian Ocean, 6%. The distribution of
over 15,700 runups (see IOC, 2008a ) is as follows: 83% Pacific Ocean, 10% Indian Ocean,