The workshop will cover tsunami warning operations and the use of the PTWC Products for national tsunami threat decision-making, with specific attention on the warning and emergency response plan and standard operating procedures (SOPs) of the Cook Islands.  Topics will include warning and response SOPs and challenges, warning decision support tools, warning messages and alerting, evacuation concepts and planning, and awareness strategies.  The workshop will facilitate Cook Islands’ review of both seismic (which account for 87% of the world’s tsunamis) and non-seismic tsunami sources in their SOPs.   

The key objectives of this workshop are to

• Review and update the Cook Islands Tsunami Warning and Emergency Response SOP, with consideration to the ICG/PTWS Local Source Tsunami Response Best Practice Guideline (draft 2019) and PTWS Hunga Tonga - Hunga Ha'apai (HTHH) Interim Procedures and PTWS Products.
• Test the Cook Islands’ tsunami SOPs through a table top exercise
• Understand how to interpret and use the PTWC Products for national tsunami threat decision-making
• Understand the tsunami warning and emergency response activities, their challenges, and limitations
• Review the science of earthquakes and tsunamis, Cook Island regional tectonics, seismicity, and tsunami hazards