Tsunami exercise today |07 September 2016

If during the day you hear a tsunami warning from alarms and church bells followed by police, fire services and ambulance sirens please do not panic.

The commotion will be only as a result of an anti-tsunami exercise!

The exercise is to cover areas of Mahé, Cerf Island, Silhouette, Praslin and La Digue and will involve public organisations, private companies and hotels.

The question that automatically comes to mind is: Is the timing right for such an exercise on the eve of the legislative election? The Division of Risk and Disaster Management (DRDM) has explained that it had no choice as the exercise is being organised by the International Coordination Group for the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG/IOTWMS) and will involve 28 countries simultaneously.

The Coordination Group was established by Unesco’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) after the December 2004 Indonesia earthquake and the consequent tsunami which affected the Indian Ocean. Its aim is to promote exchange of seismic and sea level data for rapid tsunami detection and analysis in order to provide warnings and coordinate mitigation efforts among its member states.

The exercise which is being locally coordinated by the DRDM with the collaboration of other stakeholders will be conducted in the presence of observers from ICG/IOTWMS.

“The dates have been chosen by the IOC Unesco in agreement with all member states,” explained DRDM’s information and communication manager Regina Prosper.

“We always need to exercise in order to be prepared. Tsunamis may not occur often, but when they do they can affect coasts, sometimes across an entire ocean. The devastating impact of the December 26, 2004 Indonesia earthquake and the Indian Ocean tsunami tragically demonstrated what can happen without an effective tsunami warning system in place,” Miss Prosper added.

Initially, the exercise had been planned to go through two days – today and tomorrow – as is the case for other countries taking part. But according to Miss Prosper, the DRDM chose not to as much as possible disrupt the voting preparations or scare the population out on the eve of the election.

DRDM director general Paul Labaleine has meanwhile called on public cooperation, as he says it is important to get the exercise right in order to know exactly what to do in the case of a real tsunami situation.