Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System

On December 26, 2004, a 9.3 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, triggering a massive tsunami that severely impacted South and Southeast Asian countries, particularly Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, and many small islands in the Indian Ocean.

Under the U.S. Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System (IOTWS) Program , USAID and other U.S. Government agencies share technical expertise, provide guidance and help build early warning system capacity within the Indian Ocean region to enable governments and communities to detect and prepare for future tsunamis and related coastal hazards. These partners work very closely with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), the United Nations agency which has had primary responsibility for developing the Indian Ocean’s regional tsunami warning capabilities, as well as individual national and local governments to strengthen the capacity of their disaster warning systems.

The U.S. IOTWS Program addresses hazard detection, prediction, warning, communication, and preparedness at all critical levels. Major activities include:

• Regional support for the design and development of regional observation and communications systems, tsunami warning center capacity building, warning formulation standards and protocols, and data-sharing strategies;
  
• National support for disaster management organizations, planning, policy and regulations, communications and notification systems, and hazard mapping and modeling;
  
• Local support for strengthening community preparedness and hazard mitigation through a region-wide Coastal Community Resilience initiative; and
  
• Cross-cutting support for region-wide training, educational exchanges and knowledge-sharing information systems on tsunami and related disaster warning systems.

Sustainable Coastal Livelihoods

The December 2004 tsunami devastated Thailand’s Andaman coast. A total of 392 villages and some 54,500 people were affected; over 4,500 fishing boats were destroyed or seriously damaged. Under its Post-Tsunami Sustainable Coastal Livelihoods Program, ECO-Asia is working to rebuild and diversify sustainable coastal livelihoods of severely affected fishing communities on the Andaman Coast in Thailand, and to demonstrate effective practices of community-based disaster preparedness.

Activities. To ensure new and diversified livelihoods, the Post-Tsunami Sustainable Coastal Livelihoods Program introduces new production technologies to coastal villages through targeted technical assistance and workshops. The program trains communities devastated by the tsunami in sustainable aquaculture, such as freshwater catfish, brackish water tilapia culture, seaweed, bivalves, and abalone. The program determines how the introduction of new production techniques affects aquaculture growth, and examines the change in livelihood attitudes toward fish culture and wild capture following a major natural disaster. In addition, ECO-Asia also supports a micro-finance revolving fund where entrepreneurs in certain villages have access to small loans.

This program is implemented by the University of Rhode Island’s Coastal Resources Center and the Asian Institute of Technology. Key partners are the Royal Thai Government, University of Hawaii-Hilo, and Coca-Cola (Thailand).