Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
TWS architecture: example from NEAMTWS
(after IOC-UNESCO,
2009
).
The institutional arrangements put in place for regional tsunami warning systems include a
governance mechanism, operational standards and requirements, and separate agreements
for the provision of tsunami watch services. The four intergovernmental coordination
groups(ICGs) fortsunami early warning andmitigation systems established byIOC forthe
Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Caribbean, and the north-eastern Atlantic and Medi-
terranean form the governance bodies: Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Pa-
cific Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG/PTWS), Intergovernmental Coordina-
tion Group for the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG/IOTWS),
Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Tsunami and other Coastal Hazards Warn-
ing System for the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions (ICG/CARIBE EWS), and Intergov-
ernmental Coordination Group for the Tsunami Early Warning and Mitigation System in
the North-Eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean and connected seas (ICG/NEAMTWS). The
coordination of the PTWS, originally ensured by the International Coordination Group for
the Tsunami Warning System in the Pacific (ITSU), is entrusted to ICG/PTWS, established
in 2006 (IOC,
2006
). To ensure coherent development of the regional tsunami warning
systems, the IOC Assembly, in 2005, also established a working group to define a glob-
al framework for tsunami and other ocean-related hazards early-warning systems (IOC,
mis and Other Hazards Related to Sea-Level Warning and Mitigation Systems (TOWS-
WG).
