The international exercise on tsunami risk of the NEAMTWS (North-Eastern Atlantic, Mediterranean and connected seas Tsunami Warning System) of the IOC-UNESCO, which began on 31 October last, ends today.
The exercise tests involved, on different days, three areas of the Mediterranean and an area of the north-eastern Atlantic. Yesterday, in particular, involved the National Tsunami Alert System (SiAM) - made up of INGV - National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, which operates through the Tsunami Alert Center (CAT), ISPRA - Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research and the Civil Protection Department - which carried out the simulation of an alert process on a national scale.
The exercise scenario - based on a hypothetical magnitude 8.5 earthquake with an epicenter off southern Greece - gave the opportunity to carry out all the steps that would have been done in reality: from the analysis of the tsunamigenic potential of the earthquake carried out by CAT-INGV , to the real-time study of tide gauge data collected by ISPRA up to the application of rapid alert procedures by the Civil Protection Department.
The CAT-INGV issued the first alert to the Civil Protection Department at 10.09 (Italian time), nine minutes after the earthquake occurred. During the exercise, which ended at 13.30 (Italian time), a total of five messages were conveyed with information on the heights of the tsunami in the various locations involved.
Through the rapid sending of alert messages, via an ad hoc technological platform, the Regional Civil Protection Operations Rooms and some municipal administrations of the Regions most affected by the exercise scenario were alerted: Nova Siri, Policoro and Scansano Ionico in Basilicata; Soverato, Catanzaro and Rossano in Calabria; Lecce, Gallipoli and Castellaneta in Puglia; Acicastello, Augusta and Santa Teresa di Riva in Sicily.
The last tsunami observed in the Mediterranean dates back to July 21, 2017 following a magnitude 6.6 earthquake with its epicenter in the stretch of sea facing Kos (Greece) and Bodrum (Turkey). On that occasion, the CAT sent a communication to the Civil Protection Department within just ten minutes of the tremor, informing that the tsunami would not affect the Italian coasts.
“We must not underestimate the possibility that tsunamis may arise in the Mediterranean area as a result of particularly energetic seismic events or submarine landslides. For this reason we participated in the NEAMWave17 exercise, the first after the establishment of the National Tsunami Warning System” declares the head of the Civil Protection Department, Angelo Borrelli. "Yesterday's test - adds Borrelli - represents a fundamental step in a process based on knowledge and awareness of the risk that will necessarily have to involve the territory and citizens more and more so that no one is unprepared".
"Occasions such as the exercise that took place are also useful for gathering new elements of knowledge and integrating the hypothesized scenarios, in fact ISPRA - says the President Stefano Laporta - as well as ensuring the real-time transmission of data from the Mareographic Network National (RMN) for the possible confirmation of the tsunami, has already prepared, according to the scenarios of hypothetical tsunamis that could hit our country, all the processing necessary for the release of the flood maps of the Italian coasts. Once integrated and recalibrated on the alert scenarios, the maps will be made available to the municipalities for their subsequent use for updating the emergency plans".
“Tsunami”, concludes INGV President Carlo Doglioni, “are a real risk in the Mediterranean and this new warning system represents a very important step forward in the application of basic research to the protection of citizens in coastal areas. INGV has been formally accredited in the 'North-East Atlantic and Mediterranean and connected seas (NEAM)' system, the international reference structure for tsunami warning. The birth of this structure in Italy shows that we are growing in terms of prevention and protection from natural risks. Exercises, such as the one just carried out, are the best tool for refining the efficiency of the alert system in the event of a real emergency”.
