The Snapshots aim to bring the work of the IOC UNESCO REGIONAL TEWS to a wider audience. This project of the IOC UNESCO Tsunami Section takes place within the framework of the United Nation Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and its goal of a Safe Ocean. It complements the more specialized fact sheets by highlighting actions, communities, officials, events, tsunami service providers and tsunami information centers. 

The Indian Ocean Tsunami on 26 December 2004 resulted in the loss of over 230,000 lives and the displacement of over 1.6 million people around the Indian Ocean, with estimated economic losses of $14 billion. The catastrophe brought renewed focus on the need for a regional tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean. Following the disaster, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO was given the mandate to develop and coordinate an Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (IOTWMS). An Intergovernmental Coordination Group (ICG) for the IOTWMS was established as a primary subsidiary body of the IOC by the IOC Assembly in July 2005 (Resolution XXIII-12).