Lok Sabha Question No. 607 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-06
Subject: Tsunami Preparedness
Ministry: EARTH SCIENCES
Asked by: Shyam Yadav Singh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 607

## TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, 6 TH  DECEMBER, 2023

## TSUNAMI PREPAREDNESS

## 607. SHRI SHYAM SINGH YADAV:

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of the current level of tsunami preparedness of India along the East Coast of India;
- (b) whether any steps have been taken by the Government to make the eastern coast Tsunami proof and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether any systems or software are being developed for the same; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF EARTH SCIENCES (SHRI KIREN RIJIJU)

- (a) The Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre (ITEWC) was established in 2007 at Indian National  Centre  for  Ocean  Information  Services  (INCOIS),  an  autonomous  institute under the Ministry of Earth Sciences after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. The centre is operational  round  the  clock  on  all  days  and  can  provide  warnings  to  all  the  coastal regions of India, including the east coast of India. Apart from early warning services, the warning  centre  at  INCOIS  is  building  the  capacities  and  preparedness  of  stakeholders through  regular  workshops,  training,  seminars  and  tsunami  mock  drills  (to  ensure  the robustness  of  the  early  warning  system)  for  coastal  states/UTs  of  India.  INCOIS  also offers  awareness  material  such  as  leaflets,  short  films  (in  vernacular  languages),  etc. Stakeholders  of  the  East  Coast  of  India  are  participating  in  all  regular  workshops, trainings and tsunami mock drills conducted by INCOIS for tsunami preparedness.
- (b) Tsunamis  cannot  be  prevented,  but  their  impact  can  be  mitigated  through  timely warnings,  community  awareness  &  preparedness,  effective  response.  INCOIS  has conducted about 15 workshops/trainings on tsunami awareness and preparedness to East Coast  of  India.  In  coordination  with  the  National  Disaster  Management  Authority (NDMA), INCOIS has conducted 12 Tsunami Exercises (mock drills) for the East Coast of India. The recent tsunami mock exercise IOWave23 conducted in October 2023wasa great example of tsunami preparedness where more than 40,000 people participated and evacuated  to higher  grounds  from  East  Coast of  India.  To  enhance  community preparedness,  INCOIS  is  also  coordinating  the  implementation  of  the  UNESCO-IOC "Tsunami  Ready"  initiative.  This  voluntary  community-based  programme  facilitates tsunami preparedness by actively collaborating with the public, community leaders, and local  and national emergency management agencies. INCOIS assisted the Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) in successfully recognizing Venkatraipur and Noliasahi villages as Tsunami ready communities by the UNESCO-IOC. India is the first country in the Indian Ocean region to achieve this distinction.
- (c)& (d)  Yes Sir.  The required software for monitoring earthquakes and multimode dissemination of early warning of tsunamis is already in place at INCOIS, Hyderabad. INCOIS has also developed Decision Support System software for automatically generating and disseminating warnings for effective dissemination of tsunami early waning information, INCOIS has developed interfaces to the NDMA Common Alert Protocol (CAP) system, and also to  the  INCOIS mobile application known as 'SAMUDRA - Smart Access to Marine Users for ocean Data Resources and Advisories'. *****