17 May 2006 - The Hon
Greg Hunt, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister
for the Environment and Heritage said today that
the Australian Bureau of Meteorology is taking
a lead role in Exercise Pacific Wave 2006 - a
simulated Pacific wide Tsunami to test the current
Pacific Tsunami Warning System.
The simulated exercise is scheduled to take place
today.
"Scientists in the Australian
Bureau of Meteorology's National Meteorological
and Oceanographic Centre in Melbourne and its
regional offices in Hobart, Sydney, and Brisbane
will be jointly conducting the exercise in conjunction
with Emergency Management Australia, Geoscience
Australia and the Department of Foreign Affairs
and Trade.
"They will be monitoring
a simulated tsunami generated off South America
to reach Australia's east coast."
"The simulation will be
carried out in two stages, beginning with a mock
tsunami warning bulletin from the Pacific Tsunami
Warning Centre in Hawaii on 16 May (17 May in
the South-West Pacific).
"The bulletin will then be transmitted to
designated contact points and national emergency
authorities responsible for tsunami response in
each country.
"The second stage of the
exercise, also scheduled for today, will test
the emergency management communication skills
of the particular government agencies of each
country by giving them the opportunity to disseminate
the warning message."
"When countries receive
a Tsunami Warning it is critical that their emergency
management and crisis situation agencies are able
to direct the message appropriately."
"It is one thing to have
a state of the art Tsunami Warning System, but
if countries are not practiced in emergency communication
procedures the System in not as effective as it
could be."
"We hope this exercise
contributes to the overall effectiveness of the
Pacific Tsunami Warning System partnership by
allowing countries to effect such emergency practices
in a test situation."
Mr Hunt said the Tsunami simulation
followed an international meeting of 70 Pacific
Ocean Tsunami Warning experts in Melbourne earlier
this month.
"The meeting in Melbourne
hosted 11 Pacific Nations that were currently
not a part of the Pacific Tsunami Warning System
Partnership with the aim of encouraging those
nations to join the partnership to improve Tsunami
forewarning in the region."
"The Australian Government
strongly encourages these nations to join the
Pacific Tsunami Warning System.
"We will do all that we
can to help prepare, train and develop appropriate
skills and protection mechanisms to assist the
Pacific Islands to be part of a full Pacific Tsunami
Warning System."
"Both the international
Tsunami conference and Pacific Wave 2006 are sponsored
by UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission
(IOC), which is seeking to enhance the Pacific
regions capacity to receive and respond to formal
tsunami alerts," Mr Hunt said.
The Pacific Nations encouraged to join the Pacific
Tsunami Warning System are:
Federated States of Micronesia
Kirribati
Marshall Islands
Republic of Nauru
Niue
Palau
Solomon Islands
Tonga
Vanuatu
Tuvalu
Tokelau
