Tsunami Bulletin Number 001, 03 March 2008

Last year the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO (United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization) announced the availability of a number of fellowships with an objective to further encourage particular work. The document was titled: Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System Fellowship programme in sea level science and applications 2007-2008. The related site (now old) currently says a transition to a new website is taking place and the old site will no longer be operational as of 29 February 2008.

On the new site, there is information about a 03 March 2008 6.9 earthquake in the Philippine Islands region. Fortunately the evaluation within Tsunami Bulletin Number 001 is that no destructive widespread Tsunami threat exists based on historical earthquake and Tsunami data. There is a “however” however, “earthquakes of this size sometimes generate local Tsunamis that can be destructive along coasts located within a hundred kilometers of the earthquake epicenter. Authorities in the region of the epicenter should be aware of this possibility and take appropriate action.”

Ideally the software, technology and information associated with the new “Unified Tsunami Website” will help save lives. This post takes no credit, however says thank you to those involved in the creation and update of the new unified site, and in the creation, deployment and management of related technologies and information. The related work can help to save hundreds of thousands of lives, or more, in one single successful early warning.