New Delhi, Oct 11: India, along with 20 other nations, will participate in a mock tsunami drill Wednesday to test the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (IOTWS), officials said Tuesday.
 Organised under the auspices of Unesco's Inter-governmental Oceanographic Commission, the drill will also see the responsibility for Indian Ocean tsunami advisories being handed over to the Regional Tsunami Advisory Service Providers (RTSPs) of the region -- India, Australia and Indonesia.
 According to the ministry of earth sciences, the drill aims to evaluate the system's operational capacity, the efficiency of communications among the concerned actors and the state of preparation of national emergency services.
 The Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre (ITEWC), functioning out of the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) at Hyderabad, an autonomous institution under the earth sciences ministry, is one of the RTSPs in the IOTWS set-up.
 The scenario established for the "Exercise IOWAVE 11" re-enacts the events of December 2004, with a 9.2 magnitude earthquake off the northwest coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, followed by tsunami. This simulated wave will cross the Indian Ocean in 12 hours to strike the coast of South Africa.
 During the drill from 6.30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. Wednesday, ITEWC will generate and issue 15 tsunami bulletins to both its national and regional (IOTWS) contacts through GTS, email, fax and SMS.
 During the drill, evacuation of coastal communities is also being planned in selected villages in Puducherry, Maharashtra and a few other states and union territories. IANS

Lastupdate on : Tue, 11 Oct 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
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