206-685-6344
akoop@extn.washington.edu
Jan. 29, 2008
UW and NOAA take tsunami science program to Thailand
Program will train tsunami warning and preparedness professionals at Asian Institute of Technology as part of USAID's International Tsunami Training Institute
The University of Washington (UW) Certificate Program in Tsunami Science and Preparedness, developed jointly with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID-Asia), heads overseas for the first time. It will be presented in Bangkok, Thailand from March 10-25 in partnership with the Asian Institute of Technology.
The goal is to help governments and communities detect and prepare for tsunamis, so that the tragedy of December 2004 - when the Sumatra tsunami claimed the lives of more than 300,000 people in a dozen Indian Ocean countries - does not occur again. Addressing the latest findings in tsunami hazard assessment, warning systems, and emergency management, this is the first training program at a major university to integrate all the major components of tsunami preparedness in one centralized program.
Second US program scheduled for June 2008 in Seattle
History and impact of the UW tsunami preparedness program
A universal curriculum localized for AIT presentation
UW, NOAA, and Seattle: national nexus for tsunami research
Experts available for interview
About AIT, UW Educational Outreach, NOAA, and partners
Second US program scheduled for June 2008 in Seattle
The tsunami program is administered by UW Educational Outreach, the continuing and professional education division of the University of Washington. A second U.S. program will be offered from June 16-27, 2008 on the UW campus in Seattle for professionals in tsunami-related and emergency management fields.
This offering will target professionals working with U.S. coastal communities that are required by the Tsunami Act of 2006 to improve and increase education and outreach activities. It will ensure that those receiving tsunami warnings and the at-risk public know what to do when a tsunami is approaching.
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History and impact of the UW tsunami preparedness program
UW Educational Outreach held the first Certificate Program in Tsunami Science and Preparedness in summer 2007 on the UW's Seattle, Washington campus. Thirty-one participants from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, and the Maldives, the countries most affected by the December 2004 tsunami, took part in the two-week intensive program taught by leading tsunami experts from the UW, NOAA, the U.S. Geological Survey, and other institutions.
Already the UW program has played a supporting role in developments in the Indian Ocean region. India announced at the end of September 2007 that its tsunami warning system is operational; Indonesia plans to go live with its tsunami preparedness program in November 2008.
Because tsunami preparedness and mitigation requires coordination between emergency managers, policy makers, community planners, scientists, engineers, and other professionals, the program organized participants in cross-disciplinary teams by country. Each team completed a tsunami preparedness plan for a specific community at risk in their country and participated in an end-to-end tsunami event computer simulation.
Field trips to tsunami hazard zones on the Washington coast included visits to the Washington Emergency Operations Center and viewing evidence of past tsunami events written in the landscape. Participants met with officials and emergency management professionals in the at-risk town of South Bend to discuss warning systems in place.
The certificate program was very well received by participants. In evaluation surveys, the average rating for overall satisfaction with the program was 4.5 out of 5. "The program covers the spectrum of disciplines that are required for Tsunami preparedness," commented one participant on the survey. "It provides a clear picture of this end-to-end system." 76 percent of participants said they were "very likely" to recommend the program to others.
All student expenses were paid by USAID under the framework of the International Tsunami Training Institute (ITTI). The UW Certificate Program in Tsunami Science and Preparation is ITTI's first offering. The ITTI is a core component of a broader U.S. government effort to support the development of a tsunami warning system in the region under the U.S. Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System (IOTWS) Program, also funded by USAID.
Through this two-year, $16.6 million effort, scientists and experts from the United States are sharing their technical expertise, providing guidance, and helping to build multi-hazard warning system capacity within the Indian Ocean region.
A universal curriculum localized for AIT presentation
Three faculty members from the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) attended the 2007 UW certificate program held in Seattle as observers. Noting the cutting-edge nature of the program and high evaluation marks given by participants, AIT signed an agreement with UW Educational Outreach in early January 2008 to jointly offer the program at its campus in Bangkok. The program will be taught by a team of instructors from UW, NOAA, AIT, the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center, and other institutions in Asia (all instructors selected in consultation with UW Educational Outreach).
Leading scientists from the U.S. traveling to Bangkok include Eddie Bernard, Ph.D., Director, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, NOAA; Nicolás Arcos, research scientists, Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean, UW; Charles McCreary, Director, Pacific Tsunami Warning Center; and George Crawford of Washington Emergency Management Division. USAID will provide full financial support to thirty participants from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, and the Maldives.
The universal curriculum developed by UW Educational Outreach forms the core of the program to be presented in Bangkok. AIT will help to tailor exercises and provide case studies to match regional conditions, focusing in particular on how local warning systems operate and how local emergency communications are handled.
A four-day field trip to Ranon, Phang-Nga and Phuket provinces in southern Thailand will provide opportunities for participants to meet with local residents and officials in an at-risk coastal community, visit areas hardest hit by the December 2004 tsunami, learn about local incident command systems, and more. AIT and UW will each award certificates to participants upon successful completion of the program.
A continued affiliation with UW is expected to help Asia maintain an important connection to the world's leading experts in tsunami warning systems and related areas. Benefits flow both ways. "Tsunamis are a global threat," said Catherine Petroff, UW Affiliate Faculty in Civil and Environmental Engineering, who is the tsunami program faculty and curriculum coordinator.
"By engaging with AIT as our partner, we will learn things that strengthen the UW course." The tsunami program is also a model for future international cooperation and development of additional certificate programs. "This is just the first in other possible UW partnerships with AIT," said John Stephens, Director of Academic Programs for UW Educational Outreach.
UW, NOAA, and Seattle: national nexus for tsunami research
The UW Certificate Program in Tsunami Science and Preparedness is developed jointly by UW and NOAA, utilizing instructors and building on research from both institutions. "Seattle is a national nexus for tsunami research because of the subduction earthquake hazard in this area," said Catherine Petroff, Ph.D., UW Affiliate Faculty in Civil and Environmental Engineering and program developer for the UW tsunami program.
"Between UW, NOAA, and the US Geological Survey, we have a tremendous center of expertise in tsunami science." Dr. Eddie Bernard, Director of PMEL, concurs. "NOAA's longstanding partnership with the University of Washington in tsunami research and other areas made UW Educational Outreach an ideal home for the program," said Bernard. "Through the UW-NOAA-USAID partnership, we will respond directly to a critical need in the Indian Ocean region for formal training in all aspects of end-to-end tsunami warning and mitigation systems."
John Stephens, Director of Academic Programs for UW Educational Outreach, also pointed to the role of education in saving lives around the world. "Analysis of the 2004 Sumatra tsunami showed that the biggest gap in tsunami preparedness in the region was one of training, not technology," said Stephens. "UW Educational Outreach is pleased to help close that gap."
Experts available for interview
NOAA officials, UW researchers, and program instructors
Diego Arcas, Ph.D.
(model simulations of hypothetical Northwest tsunami events)
Research Scientist for the NOAA Center for Tsunami Research in Seattle and the Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean at the University of Washington
(206) 526-6216 or Dieago Arcas
Eddie Bernard, Ph.D.
Director, Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, NOAA
(206) 526-6239 or Eddie Bernard
Frank I. González, Ph.D.
(program developer and instructor)
Research Scientist for the NOAA Center for Tsunami Research in Seattle and Affiliate Professor in Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington
(206) 526-6803 or Frank I. Gonzalez
Catherine M. Petroff, Ph.D.
(program developer and instructor)
Affiliate Faculty in Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington
(206) 235-8059 or Catherine M. Petroff
John Stephens, Ph.D.
(program administrator/UW Educational Outreach)
Director of Academic Programs, UW Educational Outreach
(206) 685-6402 or John Stephens
Orestes Anastasia
Program Manager, U.S. IOTWS Program, USAID Regional Development Mission/Asia Bangkok, Thailand
Tel: +66 2 263-7468 or Orestes Anastasia
About the Asian Institute of Technology
The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) is an international post graduate institute founded in 1959, and is Asia's pioneer institution established to help meet the region's growing needs for advanced learning in engineering, science, technology and management, research and capacity building. AIT's mission is to develop highly qualified and committed professionals who will play a leading role in the sustainable development of the region and its integration into the global economy. AIT is based in Thailand and has affiliated centers in other parts of the world.
About UW Educational Outreach
UW Educational Outreach is the continuing and professional education division of the University of Washington, the nationally recognized public research institution based in Seattle. Helping the schools, colleges, and departments to administer evening master's degrees, certificate programs, distance and online learning, international outreach and English language programs, and more, UW Educational Outreach is one of the largest and most highly regarded continuing and professional education programs in the U.S. (more information at UWEO).
About NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) is a leader in developing ocean observational systems to address the mission of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It leads efforts in applied science and engineering to reduce the loss of life and property when destructive tsunamis strike U.S. coastal communities. A deep-ocean "tsunameter" network provides NOAA's Tsunami Warning Centers with early detection and measurement of tsunamis traveling toward coastal communities.
A tsunami forecasting system developed by the NOAA Center for Tsunami Research at PMEL will integrate these measurements with advanced numerical modeling technology to quickly predict the impact of a tsunami on a threatened community. Inundation maps are also provided to coastal state emergency management officials as essential guidance for long-term hazard assessment, disaster planning, and mitigation.
NOAA and PMEL partner with the UW in the Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean (JISAO). A Cooperative Institute sponsored by NOAA, JISAO is located on the University of Washington's Seattle campus. JISAO's major purpose is to foster collaborative research between NOAA and the UW on a broad range of global and regional topics of concern to residents of this nation and, in particular, to local citizens of the Pacific Northwest (more information at NOAA).
About the U.S. Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System (US IOTWS) Program
As part of the U.S. response to the Indian Ocean disaster in December 2004, Congress provided funds to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to partner with federal technical and scientific agencies such as NOAA to help advance development of an Indian Ocean tsunami warning system. The University of Washington Certificate Program in Tsunami Science and Preparedness is a critical part of that effort. It is designed to provide a rigorous overview of basic elements of the tsunami problem and effective end-to-end tsunami warning and mitigation systems. It is expected that the ITTI will be an enduring legacy from the U.S. IOTWS program (more information at IOTWS).