ITIC Training Programme (ITP) - International

ITIC Training Program Summary, 2005 - 2024 (click to download list)

The ITIC organizes technical advice mission activities for its Member States (ITP)

TECHNICAL ADVICE MISSIONS AND ON-SITE TRAINING (ITP-International)

In order to assist Member States that start with a tsunami warning and mitigation programme, the ITIC regularly sends, upon request by the concerned Member State, experts to these countries to provide technical advice and on-site training.

During ITSU-XIX the Group decided to establish a 'pool of experts' to assist with this programme to provide training and expert consultation on tsunamis and tsunami mitigation (risk assessment, warning, preparedness) to emergency managers and other government personnel. The Group also decided to initially include in the “pool”, the ITIC Director and Associate Director, and as applicable, ITP/VEP alumni from the concerned region to assist.

The Group further decided to establish an ITP-International training programme that will organize on-site training courses thereby training groups of trainees at the national or regional level. Trainers will be sourced from the 'pool of experts.'

Since 2005, the ITIC has conducted more than 80 international training courses and capacity building missions.  57% were conducted for Pacific countries, and 36% were conducted for Indian Ocean countries.  A complete summary of all courses from 2005 to 2014 can be downloaded by clicking here (PDF).

Requests for visits of experts or on-site training sources should be addressed the IOC Secretariat/ITIC Director (Laura Kong, laura.kong@noaa.gov).

STRENGTHENING TSUNAMI WARNING AND EMERGENCY RESPONSES:
TRAINING ON END-TO-END STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES (SOPs)

In order to assist countries in strengthening their warning systems, the ITIC has conducted training workshops on the development of tsunami warning and emergency response standard operating procedures (SOPs). The accompanying Training Manual contains reference, best practice, decision support tools, and guidance materials summarizing key components, requirements, and operations to enable an effective and timely warning and evacuation against tsunamis.  The materials were developed in close partnership with experienced practitioners in tsunami warning and emergency response, and have been used in numerous training courses since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.  
IOC Manual and Guides 76, Plans and Procedures for Tsunami Warning and Emergency Response, provides a high-level summary.

SOP Strengthening Project for Indian Ocea and Southeast Asia Countries
End-to-end Tsunami Warning - An overview

This 5-day training workshop covered essential topics involved in end-to-end tsunami warning. In event time, the topics included event monitoring and detection, threat evaluation and warning, alert dissemination, emergency response, evacuation, and public action. An effective tsunami warning system is achieved when all people in vulnerable coastal communities are prepared to respond appropriately and in a timely manner upon recognizing that a potential destructive tsunami may be approaching. On Day 5, a live tsunami exercise is conducted where participants role-play as country tsunami warning center and emergency response agency groups that react to a destructive local tsunami.

This video is about ITIC Training Programme in the Caribbean during 2013 and 2014. Narrated by Edward Young, Jr., Deputy Director, NOAA, National Weather Service, Pacific Region 

TSUNAMI EVACUATION MAPS, PLANS, AND PROCEDURES (TEMPP) 

Community preparedness is vitally important because it enables a rapid appropriate response to both official warnings and the natural signs of a possible tsunami. Two important components of preparedness are science-based tsunami inundation maps and community-developed tsunami evacuation maps and plans. Communities are best prepared when they are aware of their tsunami hazard, and together decide how they will be most ready for the next tsunami. To describe the steps required to produce reliable and practical community-level tsunami evacuation maps, the IOC published Preparing for Community Tsunami Evacuations: from inundation to evacuation maps, response plans and exercises (UNESCO IOC Manuals and Guides 82, 2019) as a reference and training manual.  This TEMPP training follows IOC MG 82, providing the capacity development needed to achieve the 12 indicators of the UNESCO-IOC Tsunami Ready Recognition Programme (tsunamiwave.org)

TSUNAMI AWARENESS - 1-day training on science, warning and response, and preparedness and mitigation

This awareness-level course provides a basic understanding of tsunamis, hazard assessment, warning and dissemination, and community response strategies to effectively reduce tsunami risk. No advanced knowledge and experience of tsunamis is required. The goal of this course is to enhance participants’ abilities to support their agency's preparedness and response efforts.

Tsunami Awareness Flyer