untitled

Esline GARAEBITI & Sylvain Todman, Geohazards, Vanuatu

David Gibson, Meteorology department, Vanuatu

21 April 1997 (Torres Mw 7.8),

26 November 1999 (Vanuatu central Vanuatu,Mw 7.5, 5 victims)

2000, Mw 7, Luganville Santo

2002, 2 January (Vate, Mw 7.3,

depth of 21 km and located 50

km west of Port Vila city,

a small tsunami generated in Port Vila

harbour

2007, Mw7.0, Luganville Santo

2008, M7.1, Tanna

2009, M7.8, M7.7, M7.3, Torres/Santa Cruz islands

Storm ?, tsunami ? Deposit, Devil Point, Efate (photo B. Pelletier, 2007)

First Participation of Vanuatu in Tsunami Warning issues

in 2005 with :

the 21st session of the intergovernmental co-ordination group for

the Pacific Tsunami Warning and ion system (PTWS-XXI)

Melbourne 1-5th May 2005

Pacific wave 2005 exercise

Member of the South West Pacific Tsunami Working group, 2005.

Focal Point for Vanuatu Tsunami warning identified, 2005

Meteorological department: Focal point operating 18/7.

Geology, Mines and Water Resources Department (Geo-

Hazards Unit): Technical support and information

interpretation.

National Disaster Management office: Response to the

provinces and communities.

Warning from PTWC via fax, email and gts to the

meteorological services

Meteorology and Geohazards to arrange and issue bulletin

Geo-hazards and Meteorology dept advises NDMO and Police

operation centre

NDMO and Meteorological services advise public

Communication difficulties between the agencies in times of

emergency.

Communication delay from the warning center to the focal point

to get the messages in time

Communication limitations between the city and the remote

islands of Vanuatu to reach the tsunami warning

Poor organization within the responsible agencies to be able to

respond quickly.

Majority of the population do not have a clear understanding on

tsunami warning system

The institutional rearrangement of the 3 responsible

agencies for Tsunami warning to facilitate a quick response.

Basic tsunami hazards information is created for the

communities and the school lower grades in bislama

(Vanuatu national language).

Tsunami hazard mitigation information is preached during

any Disaster Awareness campaigns

In 2008, after the recent Tsunami events in Asia, the

Department of Vanuatu Meteorological Services and Geology

and Mines sees the need to establish a warning system for

Tsunami.

A Tsunami Directive was developed in 2008 to direct the

preparation as well as dissemination of the Tsunami

messages

The Directive indicate the requirements needed for the

activation of the Tsunami Warning Center

It categorize the stages of the warnings

It lists contacts of people to be immediately contacted when

the Tsunami Warning Center is activated

It gives the format of the Tsunami bulletins

Tsunami Information stages

Tsunami Information – The Information will contain the date and time of

the issuance, the date and time of the earthquake or event, the

earthquake magnitude, its distance from the epicenter to the nearest

island of Vanuatu

Information is intended to inform Emergency management officials

and the public that an earthquake had occurred. In most cases there is

no threat for a destructive Tsunami

An information will be issued once only

Tsunami Advisory

A bulletin containing a Tsunami Advisory will specify that there is a

potential for a Tsunami threat for the whole or any island of

Vanuatu

Subsequent advisories will be issued every one hour for regional

Tsunami and every 30 minutes for local tsunami.

An advisory will be issued based on the following conditions

The magnitude of the earthquake

The Depth

The contents of the advisory will be based on the bulletins

provided by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC)

Local conditions and topography is also taken into consideration when

preparing the bulletins

Vanuatu Meteorological Services (VMS) receives the PTWC bulletins

via the World Meteorological Organization Global

Telecommunication System (GTS) and fax

Tsunami forecast time is also included in the Advisory

bulletins

Tsunami Advisory number 1 for Vanuatu jointly issued by the Vanuatu
Meteorological Service and the Department of Geology and Mines at 09:00am
local time, 02

April 2007.

At 07:40am local time today

April 2006

, an earthquake of magnitude

8.1

was

located at

8.6

degrees south,

152.7

Degrees East. This is about

2,000 kilometers

northwest of Santo

An earthquake of this size has the potential to cause destructive Tsunami that can
strike coastlines near the epicenter within minutes and more distant coastlines within
hours. People throughout Vanuatu should immediately take appropriate action and
precautionary measures upon receiving this advisory. This includes moving away from
coastal areas and to higher grounds.
The estimated initial Tsunami wave arrival times to the islands of Vanuatu is roughly
about

o’clock local time today. People are advised to listen to Radio Vanuatu. The

next advisory will be updated today at

10am

today.

Radio Vanuatu, FM 107 and Paradise FM will broadcast all

information and advisories.

The Warning Center may also arrange direct broadcast of the

advisory, particularly the initial advisory

Tsunami bulletins are also faxed to provincial headquarters

and Principal Education Officers in provincial centers

Tsunami bulletins are also available on the Vanuatu

Meteorological Service website

http://www.meteo.gov.vu/Warnings/TsunamiAdvisory/tabid/117/Default.

aspx

30 September 2009

Only one information bulletin was issued, no advisories were issued

People were well informed via Radio Vanuatu on the details of the

earthquake and the possibility of the Tsunami

of October 2009

A total of 3 Advisories were issued.

The first Tsunami advisory was issued at 9:30am. The warning

bulletin issued from PTWC was at 092217UTC (9:17am local

time) and received via GTS between 5-10 minutes later.

The second Tsunami advisory was issued at 10:00am, the third

at 11:00am and the final/cancellation information bulletin at

12:00pm (midday)

All advisories were disseminated via Radio Vanuatu, FM107,

Paradise FM, fax and uploaded on Vanuatu Meteorological

Services website.

Although procedures were in place for the dissemination of

Tsunami Advisory via SMS, it did not eventuate.

Further discussions will be done to source alternatives to improve the

determination of Tsunami Advisory via this medium

Project proposal is developed for siren dispatch in main

cities of Vanuatu, Port Vila and Luganville.

Ensure Radio signal is received by the remote areas

ensuring everyone access warnings.

Establish tsunami evacuation plan for Port Vila and

Luganville.

Promote scientific research to built historical tsunami

database and establish tsunami inundation maps (for the

main cities of Port Vila, Luganvilleand tafea province).

Broadband Network

Site

Transmission Mode

Seismological

Equipment

Network

Santo

VSAT/ADSL

Nanometrics

Regional Seismic Network

Maewo

GPRS

Nanometrics

National Seismic Network

Pentecost

VSAT/ADSL

Nanometrics

Regional Seismic Network

Malekula

GPRS

Nanometrics

National Seismic Network

Tanna

VSAT

Kinematrics

Regional Seismic Network

Short Period (3-Components)

Site

Transmission Mode

Seismological

Equipment

Purpose

Gaua

VSAT

Kinematrics

National Volcanic Network

Ambrym

VSAT

Kinematrics

National Volcanic Network

Ambae

VSAT

Kinematrics

National Volcanic Network

Epi/Tongoa

GPRS

Kinematrics

National Volcanic Network

Lopevi

GPRS

Kinematrics

National Volcanic Network

Gaua:

–

VSAT

(Volcano)

Ambae:

–

VSAT

(Volcano)

Pentecost:

VSAT

Maewo:

GPRS

Ambrym:

–

VSAT

(Volcano)

Tanna:

–

VSAT

SP_

(Volcano)

Malekula:

GPRS

Epi/Tongoa:

–

GPRS

(volcano)

Santo:

VSAT