1. How the Indian Ocean
Tsunami Warning System
Works?
s1180054, Yoshinobu Kimezawa

2. Introduction
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre (PTWC)
has been alerting countries in the Pacific region to
the dangers of killer waves for a long time.
As a result of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that
killed almost 230,000 people, the United Nations'
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission
began coordinating efforts to create an Indian
Ocean tsunami early warning system.

3. When an Earthquake Happens
When an earthquake happens in the Indian Ocean
region, data from a variety of sources is
transmitted to the Pacific Tsunami Warning
Centre (PTWC) based in Hawaii and the Japan
Meteorological Agency (JMA) in Tokyo.

4. The PTWC and JMA
The two centres have the primary responsibility.
They receive earthquake information and data
from tidal gauges and Deep-ocean Assessment
and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) sensors or
buoys. They also receive breaking news,
telegrams, and information over the telephone.

5. The Job of PTWC and JMA
The job of these two centres is going to locate and
determine the size of earthquakes, determine
whether they have the potential to cause tsunamis
and predict tsunami wave arrival times wherever
possible.

6. Difficult to issue fast
It takes about 15 to 20 minutes for earthquake
data to be deciphered and a tsunami watch to be
issued, according to the PTWC. Inland
earthquakes will not result in tsunamis and not all
underwater earthquakes result in tsunamis. This
depends on the location and nature of the
earthquake.

7. The Way to Alert
Warnings to the people are delivered in a variety
of ways. Over the airwaves - radio, television,
SMS, email - and manually, using bells,
megaphones or loud-speakers attached to
mosques.

8. Conclusion
The tsunami warning system is a great tool.
However, it does not reach all areas and even if it
does, warnings can be confused. In other areas,
there are no escape routes as transport
infrastructure is poor.