The control room at the Portugese National Tsunami Warning Center (seismic & tsunami section) (Photo: Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera, I.P.)

GENEVA, 3 November 2017 – Portugal is to formally open a National Tsunami Warning Centre on November 21, which will extend Europe’s capacity to issue tsunami alerts to its citizens. This center will monitor an area where a large earthquake followed by a big tsunami destroyed Lisbon in 1755. 

At the same time there is concern that only 16 of the 39 countries at risk in the North East Atlantic, Mediterranean and connected seas (NEAM) region have subscribed to the Tsunami Early Warning Services currently offered by France, Greece, Italy and Turkey under the coordination of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO. 

In advance of the World Tsunami Awareness Day on November 5, 2017, the Head of the IOC Tsunami Unit, Mr. Thorkild Aarup said: “Significant progress has been made since 2005 in the development of the NEAM tsunami warning and mitigation system. The system is operational and the Tsunami Service Providers in France, Greece, Italy and Turkey send out alerts to countries in the region that wish to subscribe to this service. 

“We are using the occasion of World Tsunami Preparedness Day to appeal to all Member States in the NEAM region at risk of tsunamis, to start using the services available to them.”