GIS for Tsunami and Storm Surge Warning System

Objective

1. To detect, locate, and monitor the potentially tsunamigenic events occurring in the Indian Ocean Basin.

2. To forecast and provide Storm Surge advisories with storm surge heights and inundation extent along the Indian coast.

3. To improve coastal community's preparedness for tsunami emergencies, minimize the loss of life and property and ensure a structural and systematic approach to building community preparedness.

The world’s second-largest recorded earthquake, the great Sumatran earthquake with a magnitude of 9.3 in 2004 caused a tsunami that took an unprecedented loss of life and damage to property claiming 10,745 lives in India making it one of the deadliest natural hazards in history.

In response to this, The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India, had taken up the task of establishing an Early Warning System for Tsunamis and Storm Surges called the Indian Tsunami and Storm Surge Early Warning System (ITEWS) in response to the Tsunami that caused unmitigated disaster in 2004.

The vision was to provide timely tsunami and storm surge advisories to the stakeholders to mitigate the disaster.

Stake Holders Involved

MoES, NDMA, MHA, IMD, State and Union Territory Disaster Management Authorities, State and District EOCs, Navy, Coast Guard, NDRF and coastal communities.

Tech based Solution

The Tsunami and Storm Surge

Early Warning system software and applications were built entirely using GIS techniques. ITEWS was implemented with a real-time network of seismic stations, Tsunami buoys, Tidal gauges and a full-day operational Warning Centre to detect tsunamigenic events.

It is deployed with back-end support of a pre-run model scenario database and a comprehensive Decision Support System (DSS).

Every coastal forecast zone in the spatial data is provided with attributes such as estimated time of arrival (ETA), Estimate Maximum Wave Amplitude (EWA) and Threat Category.

The detailed tsunami bulletins are issued in both text and graphical formats to stakeholders along with GIS-based maps such as tsunami threat Maps, directivity Maps, and Travel time maps, which are useful to the disaster mitigation teams to act swiftly.

The warning system utilizes the automated DSS based on GIS and database technology to provide real-time storm surge and inundation forecasts during cyclones.

Disclaimer: These case studies have been extracted from the Integrated Geospatial Information Framework report.