Lok Sabha Question No. 1021 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-03-02
Subject: Tsunami Warning
Ministry: EARTH SCIENCES
Asked by: FEROZE VARUN GANDHI

## MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 1021

## TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2016

## TSUNAMI WARNING

## 1021. SHRI FEROZE VARUN GANDHI:

Will the Minister of EARTH SCIENCES be pleased to state:

- (a) the extent to which the Tsunami Warning Centre at the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) is effective in controlling casualties;
- (b) the manner in which the warning system is being coordinated with the National Disaster Response force for evacuations at vulnerable areas; and
- (c) the probability of the automatic system to be correct in predicting certainty and intensity of tsunami?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND

## MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES

(SHRI Y. S. CHOWDARY)

- (a) The Indian Tsunami Early Warning System (ITEWS), established at Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Sciences (INCOIS), Hyderabad, has been operational since October, 2007. The ITEWS is equipped to provide timely tsunami warnings for India and the countries in the Indian Ocean region on 24 x7 basis. The ITEWS comprises  various  real  time  monitoring  networks,  seismic  monitoring  network; bottom pressure recorders; tide gauges etc., to monitor tsunami waves.  Since its inception the Warning Centre has monitored 82 earthquakes of magnitude greater than 6.5 that occurred in the Indian Ocean region. Out of these 82 earthquakes for 6 earthquakes (Annexure) ITEWS had issued Tsunami Alert/Warnings for selected near-source areas in Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Till date no casualties/damages have been reported due to these Warnings/Alerts issued by ITEWS. Neither has any Warning/Alert been considered as 'False'.
- (b) ITEWS provides tsunami advisories to the Disaster Management Officers (DMO) at various  administrative  levels  and  other  stake  holders  through  various  modes  of communication like Email, Fax, SMS and website. ITEWS also conducts periodical workshops  for  the  DMOs  to  help  them  in  the  preparation  of  their  Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for response and action.
- (c) ITEWS  maintains  a  large  database  of  pre-run  scenarios  for  tsunamis  due  to possible  earthquakes  in  the  two  subduction  zones  for  timely  generation  and dissemination of quantitative tsunami  advisories. The  scenarios consist of estimated travel time and  tsunami wave amplitude at different coastal forecast points. These are further compared and confirmed with the water level observations obtained from a network of sea level gauges and tsunami buoys. Till date the estimated values have well matched the observed values for the events listed in the Annexure.

## Annexure

|   S. No. | Date & Time (UTC)     |   Magnitude | Region Name                                           | ITEWC Evaluation                                                                                                                                                                                                                              | Tsunami Observation    |
|----------|-----------------------|-------------|-------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------|
|        1 | 12-Sep- 2007 11:10:26 |         8.5 | Southern Sumatra, Indonesia                           | Tsunami Watch for A&N Islands, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Kerala. (Action: Evacuation is not required) 1m at Indonesia 15 cm Cocos                                                                                                    | Padang, and at Islands |
|        2 | 30-Mar- 2010 16:54:50 |         6.9 | A&N Islands India                                     | , No Tsunami for Indian Main land. Tsunami Watch for West & land fall islands, Flat islands, North Sentinel Islands, Port Blair (Action: No tsunami                                                                                           |                        |
|        3 | 12-Jun- 2010 19:26:47 |         7.5 | Nicobar Island, India                                 | No Tsunami for Indian Main land. Tsunami Watch for Nicobar, Komatra & 3 cm Trincomalee, Sri Lanka                                                                                                                                             | at                     |
|        4 | 10-Jan- 2012 18:37:00 |         7.1 | Off West Coast of Northern Sumatra (Action: required) | Tsunami WATCH for Nicobar Islands. Evacuation is not No tsunami                                                                                                                                                                               |                        |
|        5 | 11-Apr- 2012 08:38:36 |         8.5 | Off West Coast of Northern Sumatra                    | Tsunami WARNING for Indira Point, Car Nicobar, Komatra & Katchal Islands of A&N Islands. Tsunami ALERT for rest of A&N Islands, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh. Tsunami WATCH for few areas in 1 Meulaboh 0.35 Sabang, Indonesia 0.30 Campbellbay | m at and m at and m at |
|        6 | 11-Apr- 2012 10:43:10 |         8.2 | Off West Coast of Northern Sumatra                    | Tsunami ALERT for Nicobar Islands and WATCH for Andaman Islands and east coast of India. 20 Meulaboh, Indonesia.                                                                                                                              | cm at                  |

WARNING - Evacuation is required.