Disaster Risk Reduction through people centered National Multi-hazard Early Warning System in the context of Maldives

Transcription

1 Disaster Risk Reduction through people centered National Multi-hazard Early Warning System in the context of Maldives Abdul Muhusin, Deputy Director Department of Meteorology, Maldives Fourth Technical Conference on Management of Meteorological and Hydrological Services in Asia Islamabad, 5 9 February 2007

2 THE MALDIVES Population 300,000 Total number of islands 1,192 Number of inhabited islands:195 99% of the area is sea Main industries Tourism and Fisheries

3 Natural Disasters in Maldives The frequency of Natural Disasters are low However, we have to be prepared for natural disasters. Significant natural disasters include: Earthquakes and distant Tsunami Thunderstorms Flush Floods Tidal Waves Tornadoes (waterspouts) Prolonged dry periods Strong winds Cyclones

4 Vulnerability to natural hazards Low elevation (80% of the island below 1 meter Size of the islands ( largest island 5 km in length) Flat topography Intrusion of salt into ground water Global climate change and sea-level rise 93% of the inhabited islands face perennial beach erosion Wide dispersal of population across tiny islands Extremely high economic dependence on tourism

5 Components of People centered Early Warning System Risk Knowledge Monitoring Analysis and Forecasting Reliable Communication System Response Capability

6 Tsunami Hazard zones Eastern sector of Northern and Central are highly vulnerable and high risk areas for Tsunami hazard Inner atolls are less vulnerable and low risk areas for tsunami hazard

7 Surge hazard zones Frequency of high waves are very high in zone 5 ( Northern most atolls) Moderate in the western part of central Maldives Very low over southern most atolls ( zone 1)

8 Cyclonic Wind hazard zones Majority of the cyclonic systems which effect Maldives cross the northern most atolls (zone 5) The frequency of the strong wind speed decrease from Northern atolls to the southern atolls Cyclonic wind hazard is very low in the southern most atolls (zone 1)

9 Emergency operational procedures for Warning and Alert on natural hazards The National Meteorological Centre can make announcements, without consultation to National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) in cases of: Earthquakes of 7.0 or higher on Richter scale (Alert Level 1 White Lookout: Earthquake Advisory). Undersea/Inland earthquakes in the Indian Ocean Basin or Pacific Rim which may create a tsunami (Level of Emergency (Alert Level 2) Yellow: Earthquake and Tsunami Advisory)

10 Undersea/Inland earthquakes in the Indian Ocean Basin or Pacific Rim which may have created a tsunami (Level of Emergency (Alert Level 3 ) Tsunami Warning: Red) Tropical cyclones, Heavy rain, Gale force wind, Tornado, Storm surges and Flood threats (Level of emergency (Alert Level 1) Lookout: Weather Advisory) Tropical cyclones, Heavy rain, Gale force wind, Tornado, Storm surges and Flood threats (Level of Emergency (Alert Level 2) Yellow: Weather Advisory) Tropical cyclones, Heavy rain, Gale force wind, Tornado, Storm surges and Flood threats (Level of Emergency (Alert Level 3) Red: Weather Warning)

11 4 Hotlines had been established between NMC, Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF), T.V Maldives (TVM), Voice of Maldives (VOM) and Maldives Police Service (MPS) Once a natural disaster is predicted, immediately duty forecaster will inform about the disaster to MNDF, TVM, VOM and MPS by hotlines. Immediately after the occurrence of an earthquake we get the earthquake information from U.S. Geological Survey and tsunami information via Global Telecommunication System (GTS) & JMA.

12 Immediately after the occurrence of an earthquake with magnitude of 6 or greater, REDS (Real-time Earthquake Display System) displays the earthquake in red colour and automatically generates a warning sound. Immediately after the occurrence of an earthquake with magnitude 7.0 or greater in Richter Scale over the south- east Asia and the Carlsberg Ridge, duty forecaster will inform about the disaster to MNDF, TVM, VOM and MPS by hotlines. about the earthquake by hotlines and disseminate information via fax within 15 minutes.

13 Within the next 15 minutes information would be revealed whether there is a potential development of Tsunami. When a Tsunami is generated, warning will be issued including the estimated time of arrival to the Maldives. As soon as we confirm that the tsunami is not going to affect the country the warning will be downgraded immediately. Here i have only focused on Earthquakes & Tsunami However, this procedure can be applied to any natural disaster.

14 Action 1 Earthquake Magnitude 7 NDMC MPS Hotline MTCA MNDF Hotline TVM Hotline VOM Hotline Fax Information sheet 1 NDMC Fax: MPS Fax: MTCA Fax??? MNDF Fax: TVM Fax: VOM Fax: Confirm fax via Hotline

15 Minister MEEW Deputy Minister MEEW ON CALL DoM Task Force Out-Stations Director DoM Deputy Director DoM Deputy Director DoM Deputy Director DoM

16 Action 3 Gather information Fax Information sheet 2 NDMC ax: MPS Fax: MTCA Fax??? NSS Fax: TVM Fax: VOM Fax: Confirm fax via Hotline

17 Action 4a If Any Tsunami Fax Tsunami Warning NDMC NDMC ax: MPS MPS Fax: ??? Fax: MTCA Fax??? MNDF NSS Fax: Hotline TVM Fax: Hotline VOM Fax: Hotline Confirm fax via Hotline

18 Action 4b If NO Further Threat Fax Tsunami Downgraded Warning NDMC NDMC ax: MPS Fax: ??? MTC Fax??? MNDF NSS Fax: Hotline TVM Fax: Hotline VOM Fax: Hotline Confirm fax via Hotline

19 Continue Stage 4 Step Down (Green) If the tsunami is not going to affect Maldives, the tsunami warning will be cancelled. Weather warning will be cancelled if it is not going to affect the country or when the condition becomes normal.

20 Warning Dissemination Hot lines Telefax Mass media (TV, Radio and news papers) Public Alert (cell broadcast & fixed line phone) SMS to selected users Web site

21 Warning Dissemination

22 Warning Dissemination

23 Awareness Raising It is very important to give information about the natural disasters to general public Since November 2005 started conducting workshops and special lectures to students, teachers and public Information is also given to them about the forecast terminology and how to take the proper actions during emergencies The main target of this awareness programme is let them be able take the necessary actions on their own as soon as Warnings and Alerts are received.

24 These activities will increase the response capacity of the target groups Information are also given about colour code used in the warnings All hazard Early Warnings System is an important tool for natural disaster risk reduction It is also a very important one for the safety and security of the people

25 Thank You