The Concept Note is available here.

Tsunami evacuation planning has been identified as one of the priority topics to be addressed in the five partner countries (India, Iran, Oman, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates) in the North West Indian Ocean region in order to improve tsunami preparedness at community level.

The project on Strengthening Tsunami Warning in the North West Indian Ocean through Regional Cooperation supports its partners to strengthen their capacities for tsunami evacuation planning. This will be done by a two-step approach. The first step, to be implemented in the currently ongoing Phase-2b, includes a gap analysis and the development of guidance on tsunami evacuation planning in the NWIO region. The second step, part of Project Phase-2c to be implemented in 2023 (subject to funding), will include training in development of tsunami evacuation plans to facilitate effective community responses to the threat especially from near-field tsunamis.

During the first step, the project will provide information on existing approaches, standards, methodologies and best practices for tsunami evacuation planning. To facilitate joint learning and national implementation, the project will support the establishment of national working groups on evacuation planning and conduct participatory capacity and gap analysis in each of the five countries participating in the project (India, Iran, Pakistan, Oman, United Arab Emirates (UAE)). It will then provide recommendations for the NWIO countries about what fits best and how to proceed regarding the development of a set of individual national policies, standards and approaches for evacuation planning.

With the successful implementation of these two steps, participating countries can develop a solid foundation that will help achieving the goals of the UN Ocean Decade Tsunami Program to make 100% of communities at risk, prepared for and resilient to tsunamis by 2030.

Through this regional workshop it is intended to kick-off a joint working process among the five partner countries and the project team to identify the requirements for tsunami evacuation planning in the region. During the workshop the following shall be achieved:

• Providing background information on the TTF-29 project and related initiatives, such as the UN Ocean Decade Tsunami Programme and the UNESCO-IOC Tsunami Ready Recognition Programme (TRRP).
• Getting to know each other and develop national partnership arrangements. The establishment of National Working Groups (NWGs) on evacuation planning has been proposed as a mechanism to facilitate joint learning and national implementation of the project activities. Such working groups should also involve representatives from the local level, preferably from the community Pilot Areas to be involved.
• Discussion and sharing of knowledge on principal concepts and approaches for tsunami evacuation planning in order to build a common understanding among the participants. Partner countries are invited to share their experiences and possible examples of tsunami evacuation plans.
• Presentation and discussion of the approach for a participatory capacity and gap analysis in each of the five countries and preliminary results.
• Outlook on further activities to be undertaken under the framework of the project and agreements on next steps.