Due to the efforts of state-of-the-art tsunami early warning system established at Indian National Centre for Ocean Information System (INCOIS), India is much safer against tsunami threat than it was in 2004.
Under the Ministery of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India, the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) is an autonomous body.
It was registered as a Society under the Andhra Pradesh (Telangana Area) Public Societies Registration Act 1350 Fasli at Hyderabad on February 3, 1999.
The affairs of the Society are managed, administered, directed and controlled, subject to the Bye laws of the Society, by the Governing Council.
INCOIS through Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre (ITEWC) is the nodal agency to provide tsunami advisories to India.
It is coordinating with the Disaster Management Officials (DMOs) for implementation of Tsunami Ready programme in India.
Established in 2007, the Indian Tsunami Early Warning System (ITEWS) is based at & operated by Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad.
The ITEWS is an integrated effort of different organizations including the Department of Space (DOS), Department of Science and Technology (DST), the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Survey of India (SOI) and National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT).
The advance system comprises a real-time network of seismic stations, Bottom Pressure Recorders, tide gauges and 24 X 7 operational tsunami warning centre to detect tsunamigenic earthquakes, to monitor tsunamis and to provide timely advisories to vulnerable community by means of latest communication methods with back-end support of a pre-run scenario database and Decision Support System (DSS).
The main responsibility of the ITEWS is to provide tsunami advisories to Indian Mainland and the Island regions. It is capable of issuing Tsunami bulletins in less than 10 minutes after any major earthquake in the Indian Ocean.
Through multiple dissemination modes simultaneously like Fax, Phone, Emails, GTS and SMS etc., the ITEWS disseminates tsunami bulletins to various stakeholders. Users can also register on the website for receiving earthquake alerts and tsunami bulletins through emails and SMS.
The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and the subsequent loss of lives which was estimated to be more than 200,000 people. Prompted a paradigm shift in the way in which the Indian Ocean region approaches Tsunami preparedness. Several activities have been undertaken since then with the core objective of mitigating the impact of natural disasters on human lives and environmental damages.
Tsunami warning capability in the Indian Ocean was a major issue that had received considerable attention from the international community during the last decade. Many countries in the region, including India and Indonesia, had displayed exemplary efforts in enhancing their tsunami warning infrastructure and conducting several tsunami awareness campaigns.
Focus in recent times has been on enhancing community awareness and response through several capacity-building activities, biennial Indian Ocean-wide tsunami drills, and piloting of the UNESCO-IOC Tsunami Ready initiative. They have assisted the Member States in developing Tsunami action plans and integrated them at the local level in tsunami-prone coastal areas.
