Exercise Caribe Wave/Lantex 15, A
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Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission Technical Series 118 EXERCISE CARIBE WAVE/LANTEX 15 A Caribbean and Northwestern Atlantic Tsunami Warning Exercise 25 March 2015 Volume 2 Summary Report UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission Technical Series 118 EXERCISE CARIBE WAVE/LANTEX 15 A Caribbean and Northwestern Atlantic Tsunami Warning Exercise 25 March 2015 Volume 2 Summary Report UNESCO 2020 IOC Technical Series, 118 (volume 2) Paris, July 2020 English only The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariats of UNESCO and IOC concerning the legal status of any country or territory, or its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of the frontiers of any country or territory. For bibliographic purposes, this document should be cited as follows: UNESCO/IOC. 2020. Exercise Caribe Wave/Lantex 15. A Caribbean and Northwestern Atlantic Tsunami Warning Exercise, 25 March 2015, Volume 2. Paris, UNESCO. Report prepared by: Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Tsunami and other Coastal Hazards Warning System for the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions (ICG/CARIBE-EWS) Published in 2020 by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization 7, Place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP UNESCO 2020 (IOC/2014/TS/118 Vol.2) IOC Technical Series, 118(2) page (i) TABLE OF CONTENTS page Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 1 1. BACKGROUND .................................................................................................................. 2 2. EXERCISE CONCEPT ........................................................................................................ 4 2.1 PURPOSE .................................................................................................................. 4 2.2 OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................. 4 2.3 TYPES OF EXERCISE ............................................................................................... 4 3. EXERCISE OUTLINE .......................................................................................................... 6 3.1 GENERAL .................................................................................................................. 6 3.1.1 US National Tsunami Warning Center .................................................................... 7 3.1.2 Pacific Tsunami Warning Center ............................................................................. 8 3.2 MASTER SCHEDULE (EXERCISE SCRIPT) ............................................................. 9 3.3 ACTIONS IN THE CASE OF A REAL EVENT .......................................................... 12 3.4 PROCEDURE FOR FALSE ALARM ......................................................................... 12 3.5 REGISTRATIONS PROCEDURE´ ........................................................................... 12 3.6 SEA LEVEL STATION STATUS DURING EXERCISE ............................................. 14 3.7 TWEB MODELLING DURING EXERCISE ............................................................... 16 3.8 RESOURCES ........................................................................................................... 16 3.9 MEDIA ARRANGEMENTS ....................................................................................... 17 4. POST-EXERCISE EVALUATION...................................................................................... 17 5. REFERENCES .................................................................................................................. 17 ANNEXES I. SURVEY RESULTS II. SEA LEVEL STATUS III. TWEB MODEL FOR PANAMA SCENARIO IV. PTWC ENHANCED PRODUCTS FOR THE CARIBE WAVE/LANTEX PANAMA SCENARIO V. EXERCISE MESSAGES VI. LIST OF ACRONYMS IOC Technical Series, 118(2) Summary On 25 March 2015, two regional tsunami exercises took place in the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions: CARIBE WAVE/LANTEX (Panama Scenario) and LANTEX (Florida Scenario). Thirty-two (32) Members States and 16 territories1* participated in the fourth regional tsunami exercise. This represents a participation rate of 100% of all the Member States of the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Tsunami and other Coastal Hazards Warning System for the Caribbean and Adjacent Seas (ICG/CARIBE-EWS) of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC/UNESCO), for the first time in the history of the exercises. This is an increase from 98% participation in 2014, 75% in 2011 and 94% in 2013. Registered participants included designated UNESCO CARIBE-EWS Tsunami Warning Focal Points (TWFPs) and National Contacts (TNCs), in addition to more than 1,000 other international, state, territorial, and local Emergency Management Organizations (EMOs), government agencies, academic institutions, private businesses and organizations, health facilities, media, as well as communities and individuals. Almost 200,000 people participated, including over 80,953 people in Puerto Rico, 31,685 people in Venezuela, 8,637 people in Martinique, and 4,793 in the US Virgin Islands (Table 6). This high level of participation reflects an improved level of understanding of the tsunami threat in the area, and a commitment to tsunami preparedness in the region. The Start of Exercise (“Dummy”) messages were issued by the PTWC and US NTWC at 14h05 UTC for the Panama scenario and 13h02 for Florida scenario. To test communication these were disseminated over all standard TWC broadcast channels (Global Telecommunications Satellite, Weather Wire, AWIPS, Aeronautical Information System Replacement, Emergency Managers Weather Information Network, email, fax) to all official TWFPs. Start of Exercise messages were also sent out through Twitter for the first time in the history of the exercise. During the exercise, communities were alerted through use of local warning systems including sirens, SMS and EAS, as well as social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Through participation of people throughout the Caribbean, #CaribeWave2015 was the #11 top trending topic on Twitter for over five hours. For this year’s exercise two scenarios were developed. The first scenario, CARIBE WAVE/LANTEX 2015 (Panama Scenario), simulated a tsunami generated by an M 8.5 earthquake north of Panama on the Northern Panama Deformed Belt. The Panama Scenario was modelled off the 7 September 1882 earthquake and tsunami, which affected the coasts of countries and territories within the Caribbean. The maximum reported wave amplitude from the 1882 tsunami was 3.0 metres. The second exercise, LANTEX 2015 (Florida Scenario) simulated a tsunami generated by a M 6.8 earthquake, which triggered a submarine landslide originating 215 km east of Port Canaveral, Florida, USA. In the case of this submarine landslide, several studies have been conducted evaluating its potential source. Through the exercise, it has been possible to: Validate the issuance of tsunami products from the PTWC and US NTWC, which currently serve as the tsunami service providers for the region. Validate the receipt and dissemination of tsunami products by TWFP’s. Most TWP’s continue to be strongly dependant on Fax and Email, with a few indicating receipt of messages through EMWIN, GTS and AISR. Email and Fax were also used predominantly to 1 Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Brazil (Observer), Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba (Observer), Curaçao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, France (Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guyana, St Barthelemy, St Martin), Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Netherlands (Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius), Nicaragua, Panama, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Maarten, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom (Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat and Turks and Caicos), United States (Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands) and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of). IOC Technical Series, 118(2) page 2 disseminate information to the Disaster Management organizations. In 38% of the Member States and Territories messages were also disseminated to the public, the principal mechanism for this dissemination was Radio, TV and police. Continue with the exposure to proposed enhanced PTWC products, which include graphics. The Member States continue to support these products. Validate the readiness of the CARIBE-EWS countries to respond to a distant tsunami. Most countries also indicated that they had emergency response plans for distant tsunamis, as well as local and regional events. Nevertheless, most countries indicated that they do not have tsunami inundation, nor evacuation maps or mass evacuation plans. Planning for CARIBE WAVE/LANTEX took over a year and was coordinated by a task team led by the US NWS Caribbean Tsunami Warning Program (CTWP) and included the Caribbean Tsunami Information Centre (CTIC), CARIBE-EWS officers, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC), the US NTWC, the Puerto Rico Seismic Network (PRSN), the International Tsunami Information Center (ITIC), regional emergency management organizations and Tsunami National Contacts (TNCs) and Tsunami Warning Focal Points (TWFPs). The Participant Handbook (IOC/2014/TS/118VOL.1), which was distributed in November 2014, and other information and supporting