Eighteen countries around the Indian Ocean Rim including Sri Lanka will participate in an ocean-wide tsunami exercise named “Exercise Indian Ocean Wave 09” on 14 October to coincide with World Disaster Reduction Day.

The purpose of the exercise is to test national standard operating procedures and the operational lines of communication between the National Tsunami Warning Centres (NTWCs), Japan Meteorogical Agency (JMA) and Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC). It will for the first time test and evaluate the effectiveness of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (IOTWS), established in response to the Indian Ocean Tsunami on December 26, 2004. The exercise will identify weaknesses and areas for improvement, while increase preparedness and improve coordination throughout the region, the UNESCO said.

The exercise will replicate the magnitude 9.2 earthquake that occurred off the northwest coast of Sumatra, Indonesia in 2004. The simulated tsunami will spread in real time across the entire Indian Ocean, taking approximately 12 hours to travel from Indonesia to the coast of South Africa. Bulletins will be issued by JMA and PTWC which are the interim advisory services since 2005. The bulletins will be sent to the focal points in the NTWCs responsible for tsunami response in the countries concerned. All countries in the region have been encouraged to participate.

Several Member States hope to conduct the exercise through to community level, including limited evacuation of selected coastal communities. Such “end-to-end” conduct of the exercise will involve detailed pre-planning of the exercise at the national to local level.

The recently established Regional Tsunami Watch Providers (RTWP) in Australia, India and Indonesia will also participate in the exercise and will share experimental real time bulletins between themselves. RTWPs will replace the interim service currently provided from PTWC and JMA. The RTWPs will provide examples of the new types of products being developed for use in the Indian Ocean region and will invite feedback and comments from the IOTWS Member States.

Exercise IOWave09 was recommended by Member States attending the 5th Session of the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG/IOTWS) held in Putrajaya, Malaysia, in April 2008.