The workshop opened a discussion on how to enhance the standard operating procedures for issuing warnings and response to tsunamis, and to ensure their integration among national to local governmental levels, ensuring timely communication alerts between national and local stakeholders and the population at risk from tsunamis.
The workshop on Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), held at the Royal Observatory of the National Geographic Institute (IGN) in Madrid in April, 2023, opened a formal discussion on how to enhance the standard operating procedures for issuing warnings and response to tsunamis, and to ensure their integration among national to local governmental levels.
The goal is to improve SOPs in Spain to ensure the timely communication alerts between national and local stakeholders and the population at risk from tsunamis.
Representatives from various organizations took part in the workshop, including the Directorate General of Civil Protection and Emergencies of the Ministry of the Interior (DGPCE), the National Geographic Institute (IGN), the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO), and the Directorate General of Emergencies and Civil Protection of the Regional Government of Andalusia (DGEPC).
In the context of the IOC/UNESCO-European Commission (DG ECHO) CoastWAVE project, the workshop was organized by Ignacio Aguirre Iyerbe (the project coordinator representing IHCantabria) in collaboration with the National Seismic Network of Spain’s IGN and the country’s National Tsunami Contact. The project is coordinated by IOC/UNESCO and co-implemented by IHCantabria with the municipality of Chipiona, Spain. Chipiona has been selected as the first city in Spain to become IOC-UNESCO ‘Tsunami Ready’ community.
The workshop was also attended by the IHCantabria /CoastWAVE project support staff, and the Edanya group of the University of Malaga. Denis Chang Seng, the technical secretary of the ICG/NEAMTWS of IOC-UNESCO Tsunami Resilience Section participated online in the workshop.
The workshop consisted of various technical presentations, followed by a round table discussion to facilitate an open discussion. These included: the conceptual framework developed by IOC-UNESCO, the integration of procedures into emergency management plans at all levels, examples of procedures from other regions, and the supporting guidelines developed by IOC-UNESCO in collaboration with experts worldwide. The current tsunami plan and procedures in Spain were also examined to identify any gaps and their potential integration across different administrative levels and spatial scales of emergency management, serving as the initial step toward strengthening them.
Overall, the workshop contributed to identifying areas for improvement and initiating the process of fortifying emergency management procedures across Spain.
Source : UNESCO
