Training and instruction courses on the Tsunami Early Warning System

The German-Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System (GITEWS) for the Indian Ocean is technically operational and is now being tested and optimised for everyday operation. “The most important task now is to train the people locally on site, for example, the experts and specialists who will take over the technical operation and maintainance of the instruments,” says Project Leader Dr. Jörn Lauterjung from the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, which coordinates the project. Working together with the authorities, training and instruction courses are now being run for the population so that they can respond appropriately to the warnings.

Countless consultations and negotiations with the Indonesian partners and authorities on site, with international partners in Indonesia, as well as with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO were needed to move the project forward. This was then followed by major scientific challenges, since the geology off the Indonesian coast is such that earthquakes can occur very close to the coast, meaning that early warning times are very short. Hence, the new system must allow operators to decide quicker than with other early warning systems as to whether a tsunami really is pending or not, to avoid false alarms.

“However, the time, effort and cost have been worth it. We are internationally very visible with this achievement and now other countries are asking for our know-how, such as Australia, for example,” says Lauterjung. For their management of the highly complex project, Dr. Jörn Lauterjung on the German side and Dr. Sri Woro Harijono from the Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysical Service of Indonesia (BMKG) were presented with the Roland Gutsch Project Management Award 2009.

The system will be transferred fully to Indonesia at the end of March 2010. Although it cannot prevent natural disasters, such as tsunamis, it can help people reach safety in good time. The project idea came with the tsunami that killed almost a quarter of a million people in late 2004.