This year, World Tsunami Awareness Day 2025 also focuses on the importance of prevention and emergency preparedness.
Promote a culture of information and prevention as an essential focus for tsunami risk mitigation. This is the objective of the World Tsunami Awareness Day (World Tsunami Awareness Day – WTAD), an annual event established by the United Nations in 2015 and which every November 5th highlights the importance of the theme.
On this occasion, the National Tsunami Warning System (SiAM), consisting of the Department of Civil Protection (DPC), the Tsunami Warning Center of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (CAT-INGV) and the Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), renews its commitment to mitigating tsunami risk along the Italian coast and contributing to the safety of coastal communities in the Euro-Mediterranean area (NEAM).
Throughout 2025, SiAM completed numerous initiatives that involved the entire tsunami warning system chain, from the technological component to the logistics and communications components. Activities included seismic and marine monitoring, the analysis of sea level signals, and the development of new methodologies for the early detection of potential tsunamis. At the same time, awareness-raising and training initiatives were promoted for the population, through European and national projects, with the aim of strengthening the preparedness and resilience of coastal communities.
Among the many activities carried out, CAT-INGV has installed new tsunami detection buoys, one off the coast of Stromboli, facing the Sciara del Fuoco, which also allows the detection of tsunamis generated by non-seismic events, and two deep in the Ionian Sea within the framework of the PNRR MEET project (Monitoring Earth's Evolution and Tectonics) coordinated by the INGV, the first capable of detecting rogue waves in the open sea in real time.
ISPRA has completed the installation of new monitoring stations along the Italian coast., improving data acquisition, transmission and sharing systems. With the launch of the PNRR MER project (Marine Ecosystem Restoration) also started, a high-resolution topographic-barimetric survey campaign along the national coastal strip, fundamental for coastal planning and risk management.
Regarding tsunamis generated by volcanic activity, on the islands of Stromboli and Panarea, the DPC has promoted the activation, albeit in the experimental phase, of a new acoustic alarm system, installed by the Civil Protection of the Sicilian Region and tested last June 12th.
At the international level, CAT-INGV, DPC and ISPRA are involved in the NEAM-Commitment project, funded by the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG-ECHO) of the European Commission, and coordinated by the National Observatory of Athens (NOA), aimed at improving tsunami risk preparedness in the North-East Atlantic and Mediterranean area. The project also aims to improve coastal planning in the Stromboli area.
In the context of CoastWAVE 2 project, promoted by UNESCO, in the city of Palmi (Reggio Calabria) INGV and ISPRA are carrying out in-depth studies for the definition of the flood areas, providing support to the Municipality in the process aimed at the recognition of "Tsunami Ready" by UNESCO, program that helps coastal communities prepare for more effective and informed risk managementThe first municipality in Italy to have obtained this title is Minturno (Latina), where yesterday INGV researchers carried out an educational activity with the students of the “Angelo De Santis” middle school aimed at increasing knowledge of tsunamis and promoting correct behavior in the event of an emergency.
Link to evaluate:
National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV)
Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA)
Fig.1 – A moment during the operation to deploy the buoys in the sea.
Fig. 2 - NEAM-COMMITMENT Project @Stromboli. A moment from the meeting between stakeholders.
Fig. 3 - Minturno (LT), educational activity with students of the Angelo De Santis middle school.
