In March 2022, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) signed an agreement for implementation of Phase 2 of the project Strengthening Tsunami Early Warning in the North West Indian Ocean Region through Regional Cooperation. The project involves India, Iran and Pakistan with Oman and United Arab Emirates participating on a self-funded basis.

During Phase-1, the project supported the development of a regional ProbabilisticTsunami Hazard Assessment (PTHA), and additionally, Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs) through the national working processes, while postponing the outstanding planned face-to-face regional workshop activities until the pandemic condition allowed. This resulted in an increased understanding of the tsunami hazard of the Makran region and improvements to that national tsunami warning chains and SOPs for near-field events.

Phase 2 will continue to maintain the momentum and conditions for the intended change process in the Makran countries. To commence the second phase of the project, an online kick-off meeting will be held on 16 May 2022. The meeting will bring together representatives from the Makran countries to review the PTHA and national warning chains established during Phase 1 and plan for the upcoming activities.

The Provisional Agenda and Timetable is available here.

The meeting will be held on MS Teams.