Atlantic and Pacific Tsunami exercises under way

Tsunami exercise "LANTEX 10" commenced at midnight GMT today, with the first message sent by the West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Centre. This is a scripted exercise to test tsunami response plans. LANTEX 10, simulates a magnitude 7.5 earthquake off the New England coast. Detail of the exercise, including the timeline of what is scheduled to happen when is available in the LANTEX10 Handbook Version 3.0.

There is also the corresponding Pacific exercise PACIFEX 10, simulating a magnitude 9.0 earthquake south of the Alaska Peninsula. Details are in the PACIFEX10 Handbook Version 3.0. In addition Alaska and California are conducting tests of their Emergency Alert Systems, including on TV and radio the same day.

It should be noted for those used to more free flowing exercises, as used by the UK and Australia, the US exercises tend to be more tightly scripted.

ps: Also note, as it says in all messages issued: THIS IS ONLY AN EXERCISE.

Australian Tsunami Awareness Review

Yesterday, the Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, announced a Tsunami Awareness Project, and a review of the public response to tsunami warnings. These are of limited value due to a lack of detail about the review and restrictions placed on distribution of the awareness campaign materials by the Attorney.

"Tsunami Education and Awareness" is a CD-ROM and web site distributed by Surf Life Saving Australia. The Attorney says he has written to Emergency Services Ministers and Surf Life Saving Organisations requesting a review of the public response to tsunami warnings. It is not clear who is conducting the review, what resources have been made available for it or when it is to be completed. The Attorney did not release the proposed terms of reference for the review.

While Australia has a well designed and run Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre (JATWC) provided by the Bureau of Meteorology and Geoscience Australia, there is no national system for the warnings to be distributed through government agencies, nor a response coordinated. Warnings are sent to an ad-hoc arrangement of state organisations and then to an assortment of local bodies. It is not surprising that the public may take little notice of the resulting confusing and contradictory messages they get as a result.

An example of the lack of effort for Tsunami warning is show by the Queensland Government's "Queensland Tsunami Notification Protocol" (Version 1 , 9 December 2009). This has been distributed as a 9 page 3.7Mbyte PDF document, scanned from a paper original. As a result the text of the protocol cannot be found with a search or copied for use. The protocol contains such outdated procedures as the JTWC contacting Queensland by telephone before issuing a Tsunami warning. This is not an acceptable procedure as it would delay the issue of a warning and risk public safety. The protocol assumes a 90 minute warning for a Tsunami. However, situations can arise much more quickly, which would place emergency personnel in the ethical dilemma of either following procedures or ignoring them to issue a timely warning. The Protocol does not specify how agencies within Queensland are notified. Based on previously experience of a Tsunami warning in Queensland, it is not clear the Queensland Government has a system for coordinating a response.

The review will be conducted with State and Territory Emergency Services Agencies, Local Governments, surf life saving organisations and other stakeholders and will focus on:

• ways to better educate and prepare the public for, and improve its response to, future tsunami warnings, and
• mechanisms for the effective distribution of tsunami warnings to the public. ...
  

From: Tsunami Awareness Project, Media Release, Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, 6 March 2010

Tsunami Education and Awareness Material

The distribution of the awareness material distributed by Surf Life Saving Australia will be greatly hampered be the Attorney's decision to ban making copies. The Attorney has imposed copyright restrictions on the material banning the making of any copies without written permission of the federal government. The Attorney could have instead used a Creative Commons licence, freely allowing not-for-profit distribution.

Tests on the main menu page of the awareness kit show:

1. No HTML Validation Errors.
2. Score of only 35/100 with the W3C mobileOK Checker. It would be very useful for such a awareness program to be compatible with mobile phones used by young people.
3. On an automated accessibility test (TAW 3.0 for WACG 1.0) the page had zero Priority 1, sixteen Priority 2 and 4 Priority 3 problems. It would be useful if the page at least met current Australian guidelines for accessibility of web sites by the disabled.
   

Table of Contents of the Awareness Campaign

• What are the myths?
• How do tsunami work?
• Causes of tsunami
• History
• Tsunami in Australia
• Quiz

Australian Tsunami Warning Issued after Chile Earthquake

The Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre (JATWS) issued a National Warning Summary and Marine Tsunami Warnings for Norfolk Island, Lord Howe Island, Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland at 5:37AM after an earthquake in Chile. The marine warning was for dangerous waves, strong ocean currents and some localised flooding from around 8am (times vary by location).

The text of the warnings issued by the JATWS are confusing, as they say "TOP PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE AND FREQUENT BROADCAST", but do not order use of the Standard Emergency Warning Signal (SEWS).

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued an Expanding Regional Warning for areas near the earthquake at0646Z 27 FEB 2010. It issued a Pacific Ocean-wide Warning at 1045Z 27 FEB 2010, with supplements every few minutes.

The West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Centre (WCATWC) turned their traffic light symbol to orange to indicate an advisory.

WCATWCV showed a simplified map displaying South America, with the earthquake indicated by a red cross.

National Warning Summary issued 5:37AM EDT Sunday 28 February 2010

IDY68020

Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology

MEDIA:

NO USE OF STANDARD EMERGENCY WARNING SIGNAL (SEWS)

REFER TO INDIVIDUAL STATE AND TERRITORY TSUNAMI WARNINGS AND WATCHES FOR MORE

DETAILED INFORMATION.

********************************************************************************

NATIONAL TSUNAMI WARNING SUMMARY FOR AUSTRALIA NUMBER 10

Issued by the Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre (JATWC) at

5:37 AM EDT on Sunday 28 February 2010

********************************************************************************

TSUNAMI SOURCE:

An undersea earthquake of magnitude 8.8 occurred at 5:34 PM EDT on Saturday 27

February 2010 near THE COAST OF CENTRAL CHILE (latitude 35.320S longitude

72.930W ).

********************************************************************************

NATIONAL TSUNAMI WARNING STATUS SUMMARY:

Norfolk Island Marine Warning issued 6:01AM local time Sunday 28 February 2010

Lord Howe Island Marine Warning issued 5:31AM EDT Sunday 28 February 2010

Tasmania Marine Warning issued 5:31AM EDT Sunday 28 February 2010

Victoria Marine Warning issued 5:30AM EDT Sunday 28 February 2010

New South Wales Marine Warning issued 5:30AM EDT Sunday 28 February 2010

Queensland Marine Warning issued 4:30AM EST Sunday 28 February 2010

********************************************************************************

TSUNAMI DETAILS

The following sea level gauges have observed a tsunami:

Heights refer to wave amplitudes (half the peak to trough value).

GAUGE LOCATION LAT LON TIME AMPL

------------------- ----- ------ ----- ---------------

RIKITEA FRENCH POLYNS 23.1S 134.9W 1559Z 0.15M

DART MARQUESAS 51406 8.5S 125.0W 1531Z 0.18M

CALDERA CHILE 27.1S 70.8W 0843Z 0.45M

TALCAHUANO CHILE 36.7S 73.4W 0653Z 2.34M

COQUIMBO CHILE 30.0S 71.3W 0852Z 1.32M

CORRAL CHILE 39.9S 73.4W 0739Z 0.90M

VALPARAISO CHILE 33.0S 71.6W 0708Z 1.29M

IQUIQUE CHILE 20.2S 70.1W 0907Z 0.28M

ANTOFAGASTA CHILE 23.2S 70.4W 0941Z 0.49M

ARICA CHILE 18.5S 70.3W 1007Z 0.94M

DART 32412 18.0S 86.4W 0941Z 0.24M

SAN FELIX CHILE 26.3S 80.1W 0815Z 0.53M

VALPARAISO CHILE 33.0S 71.6W 0708Z 1.29M

EASTER ISLAND 27.2S 109.5W 1205Z 0.35M

BALTRA GALAPAGS IS 0.4S 90.3W 1452Z 0.35M

********************************************************************************

FOR LATEST AND FURTHER INFORMATION:

Refer to individual State and Territory tsunami warnings and watches issued by

the JATWC for more detailed information.

Listen for any further advice from your local emergency service through the

media.

Maps showing the affected areas are on the Bureau web site www.bom.gov.au.

For emergency assistance, call your local emergency service on 132 500. Call

the Tasmania Police on 131 444.

********************************************************************************

NEXT UPDATE:

The next national warning summary will be issued at 7:07 AM EDT on Sunday 28

February 2010

********************************************************************************

EDT = Eastern Daylight Time

EST = Eastern Standard Time = EDT - 1 hour

CST = Central Standard Time = EDT - 1.5 hours

CDT = Central Daylight Time = EDT - 30 minutes

WST = Western Standard Time = EDT - 3 hours

The JATWC is operated by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and Geoscience

Australia

********************************************************************************

TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 014
PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS
ISSUED AT 1934Z 27 FEB 2010

THIS BULLETIN APPLIES TO AREAS WITHIN AND BORDERING THE PACIFIC
OCEAN AND ADJACENT SEAS...EXCEPT ALASKA...BRITISH COLUMBIA...
WASHINGTON...OREGON AND CALIFORNIA.

... A WIDESPREAD TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT ...

A TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR

CHILE / PERU / ECUADOR / COLOMBIA / ANTARCTICA / PANAMA /
COSTA RICA / NICARAGUA / PITCAIRN / HONDURAS / EL SALVADOR /
GUATEMALA / FR. POLYNESIA / MEXICO / COOK ISLANDS / KIRIBATI /
KERMADEC IS / NIUE / NEW ZEALAND / TONGA / AMERICAN SAMOA /
SAMOA / JARVIS IS. / WALLIS-FUTUNA / TOKELAU / FIJI /
AUSTRALIA / HAWAII / PALMYRA IS. / TUVALU / VANUATU /
HOWLAND-BAKER / NEW CALEDONIA / JOHNSTON IS. / SOLOMON IS. /
NAURU / MARSHALL IS. / MIDWAY IS. / KOSRAE / PAPUA NEW GUINEA /
POHNPEI / WAKE IS. / CHUUK / RUSSIA / MARCUS IS. / INDONESIA /
N. MARIANAS / GUAM / YAP / BELAU / JAPAN / PHILIPPINES /
CHINESE TAIPEI

THIS BULLETIN IS ISSUED AS ADVICE TO GOVERNMENT AGENCIES.  ONLY
NATIONAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO MAKE
DECISIONS REGARDING THE OFFICIAL STATE OF ALERT IN THEIR AREA AND
ANY ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN IN RESPONSE.

AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS

ORIGIN TIME -  0634Z 27 FEB 2010
COORDINATES -  36.1 SOUTH   72.6 WEST
DEPTH       -   55 KM
LOCATION    -  NEAR COAST OF CENTRAL CHILE
MAGNITUDE   -  8.8

MEASUREMENTS OR REPORTS OF TSUNAMI WAVE ACTIVITY

GAUGE LOCATION        LAT   LON    TIME        AMPL         PER
-------------------  ----- ------  -----  ---------------  -----
CABO SAN LUCAS MX    22.9N 109.9W  1833Z   0.36M /  1.2FT  12MIN
DART TONGA 51426     23.0S 168.1W  1844Z   0.04M /  0.1FT  30MIN
HIVA OA MARQUESAS     9.8S 139.0W  1741Z   1.79M /  5.9FT  12MIN
PAPEETE TAHITI       17.5S 149.6W  1810Z   0.16M /  0.5FT  10MIN
NUKU HIVA MARQUESAS   8.9S 140.1W  1745Z   0.95M /  3.1FT  04MIN
MANZANILLO MX        19.1N 104.3W  1705Z   0.32M /  1.0FT  24MIN
DART MANZANILLO 434  16.0N 107.0W  1611Z   0.07M /  0.2FT  24MIN
ACAPULCO MX          16.8N  99.9W  1549Z   0.16M /  0.5FT  24MIN
RIKITEA PF           23.1S 134.9W  1559Z   0.15M /  0.5FT  22MIN
DART MARQUESAS 5140   8.5S 125.0W  1531Z   0.18M /  0.6FT  18MIN
BALTRA GALAPAGS EC    0.4S  90.3W  1452Z   0.35M /  1.2FT  14MIN
EASTER CL            27.2S 109.5W  1205Z   0.35M /  1.1FT  52MIN
ANCUD CL             41.9S  73.8W  0838Z   0.62M /  2.0FT  84MIN
CALLAO LA-PUNTA PE   12.1S  77.2W  1029Z   0.36M /  1.2FT  30MIN
ARICA CL             18.5S  70.3W  1008Z   0.94M /  3.1FT  42MIN
IQUIQUE CL           20.2S  70.1W  0907Z   0.28M /  0.9FT  68MIN
ANTOFAGASTA CL       23.2S  70.4W  0941Z   0.49M /  1.6FT  52MIN
DART LIMA 32412      18.0S  86.4W  0941Z   0.24M /  0.8FT  36MIN
CALDERA CL           27.1S  70.8W  0843Z   0.45M /  1.5FT  20MIN
TALCAHUANO CL        36.7S  73.4W  0653Z   2.34M /  7.7FT  88MIN
COQUIMBO CL          30.0S  71.3W  0852Z   1.32M /  4.3FT  30MIN
CORRAL CL            39.9S  73.4W  0739Z   0.90M /  2.9FT  16MIN
SAN FELIX CL         26.3S  80.1W  0815Z   0.53M /  1.7FT  08MIN
VALPARAISO CL        33.0S  71.6W  0708Z   1.29M /  4.2FT  20MIN

LAT  - LATITUDE (N-NORTH, S-SOUTH)
LON  - LONGITUDE (E-EAST, W-WEST)
TIME - TIME OF THE MEASUREMENT (Z IS UTC IS GREENWICH TIME)
AMPL - TSUNAMI AMPLITUDE MEASURED RELATIVE TO NORMAL SEA LEVEL.
IT IS ...NOT... CREST-TO-TROUGH WAVE HEIGHT.
VALUES ARE GIVEN IN BOTH METERS(M) AND FEET(FT).
PER  - PERIOD OF TIME IN MINUTES(MIN) FROM ONE WAVE TO THE NEXT.

EVALUATION

SEA LEVEL READINGS CONFIRM THAT A TSUNAMI HAS BEEN GENERATED
WHICH COULD CAUSE WIDESPREAD DAMAGE. AUTHORITIES SHOULD TAKE
APPROPRIATE ACTION IN RESPONSE TO THIS THREAT. THIS CENTER WILL
CONTINUE TO MONITOR SEA LEVEL DATA TO DETERMINE THE EXTENT AND
SEVERITY OF THE THREAT.

A TSUNAMI IS A SERIES OF WAVES AND THE FIRST WAVE MAY NOT BE THE
LARGEST. TSUNAMI WAVE HEIGHTS CANNOT BE PREDICTED AND CAN VARY
SIGNIFICANTLY ALONG A COAST DUE TO LOCAL EFFECTS. THE TIME FROM
ONE TSUNAMI WAVE TO THE NEXT CAN BE FIVE MINUTES TO AN HOUR, AND
THE THREAT CAN CONTINUE FOR MANY HOURS AS MULTIPLE WAVES ARRIVE.

FOR ALL AREAS - WHEN NO MAJOR WAVES ARE OBSERVED FOR TWO HOURS
AFTER THE ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL OR DAMAGING WAVES HAVE NOT
OCCURRED FOR AT LEAST TWO HOURS THEN LOCAL AUTHORITIES CAN ASSUME
THE THREAT IS PASSED. DANGER TO BOATS AND COASTAL STRUCTURES CAN
CONTINUE FOR SEVERAL HOURS DUE TO RAPID CURRENTS. AS LOCAL
CONDITIONS CAN CAUSE A WIDE VARIATION IN TSUNAMI WAVE ACTION THE
ALL CLEAR DETERMINATION MUST BE MADE BY LOCAL AUTHORITIES.

BULLETINS WILL BE ISSUED HOURLY OR SOONER IF CONDITIONS WARRANT.
THE TSUNAMI WARNING WILL REMAIN IN EFFECT UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.

THE WEST COAST/ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER WILL ISSUE PRODUCTS
FOR ALASKA...BRITISH COLUMBIA...WASHINGTON...OREGON...CALIFORNIA.

Tsunami Recovery in Sri Lanka

The People's Verdict on Tsunami Recovery in Sri Lanka by Muttukrishna Sarvananthan (International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Colombo, 2007, ISBN: 978-955-580-114-0) provides an useful analysis of the recovery operations after the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. The emotive title of "people's verdict" is unfortunate, as it may make the reader think this is some sort of left wing political propaganda, rather than the careful empirical research it is. The book is based on an extensive survey of tsunami survivors and provides useful lessons for future disaster recovery operations,. Unfortunately even so long after the events of 2004 it also notes where the recovery operation is still lacking, particularly with housing and schooling. Some surprising findings were that there was little corruption or discrimination in the distribution of aid. The provision of employment and schooling were identified as important issues. I acme across this book by accident in the new arrivals at the Australian National University Library. The International Centre for Ethnic Studies might wish to consider distributing excepts from this book online for free, so as to make the information more widely available.

Tsunami warning and response for Samoa

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre detected a magnitude 7.9 earthquake in the Samoa Islands region at 1748Z 29 September 2009. In response a Tsunami Warning and Watch was issued 16 minutes later at 1804Z (Bulletin 1). In all 11 messages were issued, the last being 0501Z 30 September 2009. The centre issued messages for both Hawaii and the Pacific.

Due to the closeness of the earthquake to Samoa and limitations in the technology available, the warning message was issued 5 minutes after the predicted arrival time of the Tsunami (1759Z) at the first population centre, Pago Pago in American Samoa.

The centre issues warnings to national authorities and there is then a delay while local authorities decide if, and how, to warn the public.
At best only 11 minutes warning could have been provided (assuming instantaneous detection, analysis and alert). Telecommunications systems can provide a warning within one minute.

The warning was also forwarded by email by UNESCO to the Interim Indian Ocean warning system mailing list. This message was dated Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:04:43 GMT. It was received from UNESCO approximately three minutes later by the Fastmail.fm mail system and a summary by SMS via Vodafone Australia within one minute.

Samoa uses a system of sirens and church bells to the warn the population of Tsunami. The USA has a system of "NOAA Weather Radio" which issues automated warnings. There is a NOAA transmitter in American Samoa, located in Pago Pago.

During a visit to Samoa in 2005 to teach web design for UNESCO, I noticed that while a national digital telephone network had not yet been installed, there was a limited private GSM service (a similar service existed in Tonga). There were proposals for a GSM network in Samoa in 2007, but it is not clear how this has progressed. The significance of these networks is that they provide the SMS and SMS cell broadcast networks, which could be used to issue emergency warnings.

Sequence	Time	Type
1	29/09/09 18:03	Expanding Regional Warning
2	29/09/09 18:05	Watch Statement
3	29/09/09 18:54	Expanding Regional Warning Supplement
4	29/09/09 18:57	Watch Supplement Statement
5	29/09/09 20:21	Expanding Regional Warning Supplement
6	29/09/09 20:23	Watch Cancellation Statement
7	29/09/09 21:34	Expanding Regional Warning Cancellation
8	30/09/09 01:58	Advisory Statement
9	30/09/09 03:03	Advisory Supplement Statement
10	30/09/09 03:57	Advisory Supplement Statement
11	30/09/09 05:01	Final Advisory Statement

Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning Cancelled

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) issued a warning for the Indian Ocean at 2005 UTC (bulletin number 1). This followed a 7.7 earthquake near the Andaman Islands. A tsunami was predicted to arrive in towns in the islands within 15 minutes, and on the Indian mainland including KAKINADA within an hour, and later: MYANMAR, INDONESIA, THAILAND, BANGLADESH. The JAPAN METEOROLOGICAL AGENCY (JMA) issued a similar bulletin at 2025. The PTWC issued a second bulletin at 2105Z saying a tsunami was generated, but a third bulletin at 2124Z corrected this saying no tsunami had been observed. At 2211Z PTWC cancelled the Tsunami watch. A problem with this process is the difference in times and details between the Japanese and US warnings. The JMA seems to issue fewer, later and less detailed bulletins.

Australian Tsunami Warning Issued

The Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre issued a Land Warning for Lord Howe Island at 10:45 PM EST on 15 July 2009 and a Marine Warning for much of south east Australia. This followed an earthquake off the south of New Zealand at 0923Z 15 JUL 2009. The media were requested to use the Standard Emergency Warning Signal (SEWS) for Lord Howe Island, but not mainland Australia.

At 12:14 AM EST on Thursday 16 July 2009 threat for Lord Howe Island was downgraded to a Marine Warning and use of the SEWS cancelled. One anomaly with this was that the message for Lord Howe Island (IDY68035) used different text to those for the mainland (IDY68028). The mainland messages said "Marine Warning", whereas the Lord Howe Island message did not contain that phrase. This may seem a minor point, but a lack of use of standard wording can cause dangerous misunderstandings.

Unlike the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, the Australian Centre does not appear to provide a public archive of issued messages, so I have included two in this posting for research purposes.

For a discussion of warning systems see my "National Bushfire Warning System", Seminar, College of Engineering and Computer Science, ANU, Canberra, 16 April 2009.

** Land and Marine Threat Tsunami Warning is current for Lord Howe Island. **

THERE IS A LAND AND MARINE TSUNAMI WARNING CURRENT FOR LORD HOWE ISLAND.

IDY68034
Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology

MEDIA:
PLEASE USE STANDARD EMERGENCY WARNING SIGNAL (SEWS)
TOP PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE AND FREQUENT BROADCAST
********************************************************************************

TSUNAMI WARNING NUMBER 3 FOR LORD HOWE ISLAND
Issued by the Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre (JATWC) at
10:45 PM EST on Wednesday 15 July 2009

********************************************************************************

TSUNAMI THREAT TO LOW-LYING COASTAL AREAS AND THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT

********************************************************************************
SUMMARY:

Tsunami warning for LORD HOWE ISLAND.

An undersea earthquake of magnitude 7.9 (Latitude 45.960S Longitude 166.470E )
has occurred at 07:22 PM EST on Wednesday 15 July 2009 near OFF W. COAST OF
S. ISLAND, N.Z..

For low-lying coastal areas there is a threat of MAJOR LAND INUNDATION,
FLOODING, DANGEROUS WAVES AND STRONG OCEAN CURRENTS for several hours from
09:30 pm (EST) Wednesday.

People in affected areas are strongly advised by the NSW STATE EMERGENCY
SERVICE to go to higher ground or at least one kilometre inland.

For all threatened areas, people are advised to get out of the water and move
away from the immediate water’s edge.

Next update will be issued by 11:45 PM EST on Wednesday 15 July 2009

For latest and further information call 1300 TSUNAMI (1300 878 6264) or visit
www.bom.gov.au

********************************************************************************
DETAILS:

TSUNAMI THREAT TO LOW-LYING COASTAL AREAS
A threat of MAJOR LAND INUNDATION, FLOODING, DANGEROUS WAVES AND STRONG OCEAN
CURRENTS exists for several hours from 09:30 pm (EST) Wednesday.

COMMUNITY RESPONSE ADVICE FROM THE NSW STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE:

- The NSW STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE has ordered the evacuation of low-lying parts
of coastal towns and villages.

- People are strongly advised to go to higher ground, at least ten metres
above sea level, or if possible move at least one kilometre away from all
beaches and the water's edge of harbours and coastal estuaries.

- Take only essential items that you can carry including important papers,
family photographs and medical needs.

- It may be in your own interests to walk to safety if possible to avoid
traffic jams.

- If you cannot leave the area take shelter in the upper storey of a sturdy
brick or concrete multi-storey building.

- Boats in harbours, estuaries or shallow coastal water should return to
shore. Secure your boat and move away from the waterfront.

- Vessels already at sea should stay offshore in deep water until further
advised.

- Do not go to the coast to watch the tsunami, as there is the possibility of
dangerous, localised land inundation of the immediate foreshore.

- Check that your neighbours have received this advice.

CAUTION:
Tsunami waves are more powerful than the same size beach waves, with the first
wave not necessarily being the largest.

Low-level effects may be observed in neighbouring coastal areas. People are
advised to take care.

TSUNAMI SOURCE:
An undersea earthquake of magnitude 7.9 (Latitude 45.960S Longitude 166.470E )
has occurred at 07:22 PM EST on Wednesday 15 July 2009 off W. COAST OF S.
ISLAND, N.Z.

Sea level observations have confirmed a tsunami has been generated.

Tsunami has been observed at Spring Bay in TAS at 10:05pm and at Port Kembla in
NSW at 10:06pm.

The NEXT UPDATE will be issued by 11:45 PM EST on Wednesday 15 July 2009

FOR LATEST AND FURTHER INFORMATION:
Call 1300 TSUNAMI (1300 878 6264) or visit www.bom.gov.au

FOR EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE:
Call the NSW STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE on 132 500

********************************************************************************

EST = Eastern Standard Time
CST = Central Standard Time = EST - 30 minutes
WST = Western Standard Time = EST - 2 hours

The JATWC is operated by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and Geoscience
Australia
********************************************************************************

** Marine Threat Tsunami Warning is current for Norfolk Island. **

THERE IS A MARINE TSUNAMI WARNING CURRENT FOR NORFOLK ISLAND.

IDY68035
Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology

MEDIA:
NO USE OF STANDARD EMERGENCY WARNING SIGNAL (SEWS)
TOP PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE AND FREQUENT BROADCAST
********************************************************************************

TSUNAMI WARNING NUMBER 3 FOR NORFOLK ISLAND
Issued by the Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre (JATWC) at
01:47 AM NFT on Thursday 16 July 2009

********************************************************************************

TSUNAMI THREAT TO THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT

********************************************************************************
SUMMARY:

Tsunami warning for the marine environment of NORFOLK ISLAND.

An undersea earthquake of magnitude 7.9 (Latitude 45.960S Longitude 166.470E )
has occurred at 07:22 PM EST on Wednesday 15 July 2009 off W. COAST OF S.
ISLAND, N.Z.

Possibility of DANGEROUS WAVES, STRONG OCEAN CURRENTS AND SOME LOCALISED
OVERFLOW ONTO THE IMMEDIATE FORESHORE from now until 2:30am local time
Thursday.

Although major evacuations are not required, people are advised to get out of
the water and move away from the immediate water's edge.

Next update will be issued by 02:47 AM NFT on Thursday 16 July 2009

For latest and further information call 1300 TSUNAMI (1300 878 6264) or visit
www.bom.gov.au

********************************************************************************
DETAILS:

A threat of DANGEROUS WAVES, STRONG OCEAN CURRENTS AND THE POSSIBILITY OF SOME
LOCALISED OVERFLOW ONTO THE IMMEDIATE FORESHORE exists from now until 2:30am
local time Thursday.

COMMUNITY RESPONSE ADVICE FROM THE NORFOLK ISLAND POLICE :

- While major evacuations are not required, people are advised to get out of
the water and move away from the immediate water's edge of harbours, coastal
estuaries, rock platforms and beaches.

- Boats in harbours, estuaries or shallow coastal water should return to
shore. Secure your boat and move away from the waterfront.

- Vessels already at sea should stay offshore in deep water until further
advised.

- Do not go to the coast to watch the tsunami, as there is the possibility of
dangerous, localised flooding of the immediate foreshore.

- Check that your neighbours have received this advice.

CAUTION:
Tsunami waves are more powerful than the same size beach waves, with the first
wave not necessarily being the largest.

Low-level effects may be observed in neighbouring coastal areas. People are
advised to take care.

TSUNAMI SOURCE:
An undersea earthquake of magnitude 7.9 (Latitude 45.960S Longitude 166.470E )
has occurred at 07:22 PM EST on Wednesday 15 July 2009 near OFF W. COAST OF
S. ISLAND, N.Z..

Sea level observations have confirmed a tsunami has been generated.

Tsunami has been observed at Spring Bay in TAS at 10:05pm and at Port Kembla
in NSW at 10:06pm.

Tsunami threat levels are expected to gradually decrease from 2:30am local time
Thursday.

The NEXT UPDATE will be issued by 02:47 AM NFT on Thursday 16 July 2009

FOR LATEST AND FURTHER INFORMATION:
Call 1300 TSUNAMI (1300 878 6264) or visit www.bom.gov.au

FOR EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE:
Call the NORFOLK ISLAND POLICE on 977

********************************************************************************

EST = Eastern Standard Time
CST = Central Standard Time = EST - 30 minutes
WST = Western Standard Time = EST - 2 hours

The JATWC is operated by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and Geoscience
Australia
********************************************************************************

Fault in Pacific Tsunami Warning System

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) issued a warning 19 March 2009 after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake near Tonga. A small tsunami of 0.04 m was later reported and in all six messages were issued, before the warning was cancelled. While the text based warning messages worked as planned (I received trimmed versions by mobile phone SMS as well), there appear to be continuing problems with the HTML versions on the NOAA web site. The PTWC needs to review its web design to ensure poor formatting is not impeding this important service.

When I attempted to access the PTWC web site at 8:10am this morning the system reported:"Information Alert - Status : 504 Gateway Time-Out -
Description : Lost connection to origin server". The site worked on a second attempt. While the text versions of the warning messages were readable, the HTML versions were blank, with the PTWC page header and side menu, but no warning message. On examining the HTML source code I found a large amount of formatting information and text about last year's tsunami exercise and awareness month commented out, but no current tsunami warning. It is not clear if this excessive formatting and redundant information caused the problem with displaying the message, but it would place an additional and unnecessary load on the system. This problem was previously identified 9 January 2009.

I will be discussing this issue at a seminar on a "National Bushfire Warning System" at The Australian National University in Canberra on 16 April 2009.

Public Safety Communications Conference Program

Tuesday I will talking on "Community Warning Systems - Balancing Technology and Reliability" at the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials Australia 2009 Conference in Sydney. The conference topics have been changed at short notice to address some early lessons learnt from the recent and ongoing Victorian bushfires. The Conference & Exhibition program was supplied in hard to read PDF, so here it is converted to HTML:

2009 Conference Workshops

Leadership in Public Safety

“when every second counts”

Time	CONFERENCE FORUM/WORKSHOPS SUMMARY
Sunday 1 March 2009 1400 - 1600	International - Global Alliance Location: Star City Casino, Sydney
Monday 2 March 2009 0930 - 1230	National Fleet Forum Location: VIP Room - Level 1, Australian Technology Park
Tuesday 3 March 2009 1100 - 1330	Expert Advisory Panel Location: VIP Room - Level 1, Australian Technology Park
Tuesday 3 March 2009 1430 - 1700	Future Surveillance and Intelligence Gathering Forum Location: VIP Room - Level 1, Australian Technology Park
Wednesday 4 March 2009 1130 - 1320	Chief Information Officers Forum Location: VIP Room - Level 1, Australian Technology Park
Wednesday 4 March 2009 1430 - 1700	Local Government Emergency Response & Enforcement Forum Location: VIP Room - Level 1, Australian Technology Park
Wednesday 4 March 2009 1600 - 1700	Commercial Advisory Group Location: VIP Room - Level 1, Australian Technology Park
TBA	Transitions in Leadership: New Heights - New Challenges - See Registration desk for details

For enquiries regarding any of the forums or workshops please call APCO Australasia on 1300 796 668.

By Invitation Only

By Invitation Only

Booking Essential

Booking Essential

Booking Essential

It may be necessary for reasons beyond the control of the organisers to alter the content of the programme schedule - Please see Information & Registration for further details.

Transportation buses will be provided to and from selected hotels at specified times

2009 Programme Schedule

Leadership in Public Safety

“when every second counts”

Monday 2 March 2009

Time

National Fleet Workshop

0800 0930 - 1230

For Today’s Conference Forums and Workshops, Please refer to page 1 of the Conference Programme Schedule Registration & Information Booth Open (situated outside entrance to Exhibition Area) National Fleet Managers’ Vehicle Technology & Safety Workshop (Session 1) - Bookings Essential (Meeting Rooms 1 & 2): Click Here for further details Opening Address: Deputy Chief Charles Beck — Los Angeles Police Department

OFFICIAL CONFERENCE OPENING CEREMONY & KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS - ATP Theatre

1400 1500 - 1700

Welcome to the 2009 APCO Australasia Conference: - Event MC - Mr Peter Morris Welcome address: Des Bahr - Chief Executive Officer, APCO Australasia Gary Starr - Managing Director - Government & Public Safety, Motorola Australia (2009 Event Partner) Official Opening of Conference: Tony Pearce, Director General - Emergency Management Australia Keynote Panel Presentation – Australia’s Worst Natural Disaster A Panel presentation about Australia’s multi-agency response to the worst Natural Disaster in Australia’s history - Victoria’s Bushfires 2009 Those who were there give a first hand account of how they managed this unparalleled firestorm. Senior Emergency Services experts will take an in-depth look at these unprecedented events. Panel members include; Tony Pearce, Director General, Emergency Management Australia Superintendent Rod Collins, State Emergency Planning & Response Division, Victoria Police Chief Superintendent Grant Pitman, Past District Disaster Coordinator, QLD Police Service Craig Lapsley, Director Emergency Management Branch, Department of Human Services Trevor White, Director – Operations, SES Victoria Paul Holman, Operations Manager - Emergency Management, Ambulance Victoria Geoff Conway, Deputy Chief Officer, CFA Operations Directorate Kevin Brame, Deputy Fire Chief, City of North Las Vegas Jessica Block, Research Associate, San Diego State University

EXHIBITION OPENING / VIP RECEPTION - Main Exhibition Hall

1700 1730 2000

Exhibition Viewing area open VIP Reception and Official Opening of the Exhibition Welcome Address: Des Bahr - Chief Executive Officer, APCO Australasia Barry Borzillo - CEO, Tenix Solutions - 2009 VIP Reception Sponsor Official Opening of Exhibition: Commissioner Andrew Scipione APM - NSW Police Force Exhibition Viewing & Reception area closed

It may be necessary for reasons beyond the control of the organisers to alter the content of the programme schedule - Please see Information & Registration for further details.

Transportation buses will be provided to and from selected hotels at specified times

Tuesday 3 March 2009

Time
0730 0830	For Today’s Conference Forums and Workshops, Please refer to page 1 of the Conference Programme Schedule Registration & Information Booth Open Exhibition Area Open
0830 - 0930	Keynote Presentation - New skills required for today’s policing Detective Chief Superintendent Michael Hallowes — Head of Strategic Operations, UK Police

Hall 1	Hall 2	Hall 3	Workshops/Forums
0930 - 1000	The use of technology to assist Bush Fire Management, including GIO Spatial Visualization (Emergency Management) Jessica Block, Research Associate - San Diego State University	Command Support Approach - Achieving a common operational picture across single / Multi Agencies (Information Management) Jeremy Azis, Managing Director - Vector Command / Roy Thompson - Commander, Metropolitan Fire Service South Australia	The 2007 Surrey Fire, Canada - Dynamic resource relocations for balancing emergency coverage throughout service area. (Emergency Management) Chief Eric Dutton (Ret.)
1000 - 1030	Field testing Police Technology for the future (Critical Infrastructure) Grant Pitman (Acting Chief Superintendent), QLD Police Service	Intergrated Command & Control Communications System (Information Management) Ranjan Bhagat — General Manager - Zetron	Emergency Warning Systems – Balancing technology with Practicality (Emergency Management) Tom Worthington - Adjunct Senior Lecture, Australian National University

1030 - 1100	Morning Tea (Served in Exhibition area)
1100 - 1130	National approaches to information sharing solutions for law enforcement agencies, for a safer Australia (Information Management) Ben McDevitt — Chief Executive Officer, CrimTrac	Connecting first responders - Satellite Technology - East Coast launch (Telecommunications) Michael Butler - President, Inmarsat	Ensuring Reliability and Accuracy of Technology used by Police (Information Management) Inspector Ron Phillips — NZ Police Callibration Services	Expert Advisory Panel By Invitation Only Time - 1100 - 1330 Location - VIP Room - Level 1, Australian Technology Park Note - Lunch Provided
1130 - 1200	Towards a National Emergency Warning Framework (Future Technologies) Dr Renato Iannella , Principal Scientist, National ICT Australia (NICTA)	Communication, Localisation and Risk Management Systems for Mining and Remote Operations - A Resource for Emergency Response (Mining) Dr Eleonora Widzyk-Capehart - CSIRO	Making First Responder Interoperability a Priority (Interoperability) Inspector Lance Valcour — Canadian Police Research Centre

It may be necessary for reasons beyond the control of the organisers to alter the content of the programme schedule - Please see Information & Registration for further details.

Transportation buses will be provided to and from selected hotels at specified times

Tuesday 3 March 2009

For Today’s Conference Forums and Workshops, Please refer to page 1 of the Conference Programme Schedule
Time	Hall 1		Hall 2	Hall 3		Workshops/Forums
1200 - 1230	Resourcing volunteers - is technology a help or hindrance ? (Essential Services) Trevor White - Director - Operations, Victoria State Emergency Service		Bush / forest fire fighting – international research project in germany (Future Technologies) Steffen Minolts - GSW- Consulting	2006 Australian Police Deployment to East Timor (Interoperability) Inspector Ged Griffin - Victoria Police		Continued- Expert Advisory Panel By Invitation Only Time - 1100 - 1330 Location - VIP Room - Level 1, Australian Technology Park Note - Lunch Provided
1230 - 1320		Lunch (Served in Exhibition area)
1320 - 1400	Keynote Presentation - The Next Generation Wireless Broadband Network and its application to Public Safety in Australia Mike Wright — Executive Director - Wireless Engineering & Operations, Telstra Corporation

1400 - 1430

Strategic direction of NSW Fire Brigades (Emergency Management) Commissioner Greg Mullins — New South Wales Fire Brigades

Network Centric Emergency Operations - The Application of Defence Network Centric Warfare Research to Emergency Services (Telecommunications) Craig Phasey - Auspace Business Development Manager

Situation and Threat Assessments & Early Warning Systems (Community Safety) Professor Subash Challa - Melbourne University

1430 - 1500	Ambulance/Pre Hospital response to Australia’s worst natural disaster - Victorian Bushfire ‘09 (Emergency Management) Paul Holman - Operations Manager (Emergency Management), Ambulance Victoria	Sea Piracy - Current trends & issues Dr. Sam Bateman — Maritime Policy Centre, Wollongong University	Enhancing Coverage via Rebroadcast Repeaters (Telecommunications) Leo Doherty — RF Industries	Future Surveillance and Intellegence Gathering Forum Time - 1430 - 1700 Location - VIP Room - Level 1, Australian Technology Park Note - Afternoon Tea Provided
1500 - 1530	Afternoon Tea (Served in Exhibition area)
1530 - 1600	Community Resilience in Health and Recovery Operation during the Victorian 2009 bushfires - Are we prepared for the future? (Emergency Management) Craig Lapsley — Director - Emergency Management Branch, DHS Victoria				The use of Biometrics to assist the fight against crime (Future Technologies) Professor Subash Challa - Melbourne University	Radio over IP: Applications and trends (Telecommunications) John Florenca - CEO, Omnitronics

It may be necessary for reasons beyond the control of the organisers to alter the content of the programme schedule - Please see Information & Registration for further details.

Transportation buses will be provided to and from selected hotels at specified times

Tuesday 3 March 2009

For Today’s Conference Forums and Workshops, Please refer to page 1 of the Conference Programme Schedule

Time	Hall 1	Hall 2	Hall 3	Workshops/Forums
1600 - 1630	Health Emergency Management Communications (Chemical) Dr. John Moloney — Manager, Field Emergency Management Program, DHS Victoria	Real Time Video over narrow band channels - case studies (Information Management) Stephen Ayres — Lockheed Martin	Advances in public safety in-Vehicle computing technology (Telecommunications) Rob Thompkins - Vice President, Data911 - St. Louis USA	Continued - Future Surveillance and Intelligence Gathering Forum Time - 1430 - 1700 Location - VIP Room - Level 1, Australian Technology Park
1630 - 1700	Remote Video Surveillance on 3G, What Works, What’s Promising (Telecommunications) Dan McLeod — President, CrimePoint	Mobile Personal Communications - The State of the Art (Future Technologies) Alan Whitehead — Research In motion	Future integrated communications despatch systems (Emergency Management) Richard Stacey — Gibson Quai (UK)

Time	2009 APCO Australasia Gala Dinner - Grand Harbour Ballroom, Star City
1800 - 1830 1830 - 2330	Pre-Dinner Drinks 2009 APCO Australasia Gala Dinner Located at the Grand Harbour Ballroom, Star City - 80 Pyrmont St, Pyrmont, NSW, Australia Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will be represented at the Gala Dinner by The Hon. Bob Debus, Minister for Home Affairs. Gala Dinner MC - Mr Peter Morris Entertainment - Matt Hollywood - Comedian Magician - Vegas Show

It may be necessary for reasons beyond the control of the organisers to alter the content of the programme schedule - Please see Information & Registration for further details.

Transportation buses will be provided to and from selected hotels at specified times

Wednesday 4 March 2009

For Today’s Conference Forums and Workshops, Please refer to page 1 of the Conference Programme Schedule
Time	Hall 1	Hall 2	Hall 3	Workshops/Forums

0830 - 0900	Operational Command - Major Deployment Exercise (Border Security) Roger Batch — Manager, Operational Readiness - Australian Customs Service	CyberTerrorism & CyberSecurity, Table Top Exercises (Training) James Cavanagh - Knowledge Transfer Agent, The Consulant Registry	The development of an Electronic MECC system to support local government disaster management (Emergency Management) Jan Wandek, Managing Director of Aussoft
0900 - 0930	Terrorism & Counter Terrorism Trends in the Region (Counter Terrorism) Commander Wayne Buchhorn — Australian Federal Police	Spatial industry trends and the im­pact of new CRC research initiatives on ESO’s (Spatial Information) Graeme Kernich — CRC Spatial Info	Remote Area Mass Casualty Incident (Emergency Management) Dr Rob Visser — Royal Flying Doctor Service
0930 - 1000	Italian Interpolice Tetra Project (PIT) (Information Management) Captain Mario Bianco	Use of Location Intelligence by ESOs (Spatial Information) Michelle Martin - Manager Business Development (NSW) - ESRI Australia	Firefighting at the Coalface - CFA response to Morwell Open Cut Fire- September 2008 (Mining) Greg Flynn - Operations Manager, Region 10, Country Fire Authority

1000 - 1030		Morning Tea (Served in Exhibition area)
1030 - 1130	Keynote Presentation - Utilising Technology in LA Policing - The LAPD Strategic Plan Deputy Chief Charles Beck — Los Angeles Police Department
1130 - 1200	Lifelong learning for ESOs (Training) Dep. Fire Chief Kevin Brame — City of North Las Vegas Fire Department (USA)		Global Trends in Public Safety Spectrum Standards (Telecommunications) David Lum - Director, Asia\Pacific Product & Support Operations, Motorola	Hand Held Mobile Satelite Broadband Technology (Spatial Information) Henrik Jacobsen — Managing Director, Applied Satellite Technology Australia	Chief Information Officers Forum By Invitation Only Time - 1130 - 1320 Location - VIP Room - Level 1, Australian Technology Park Note - Lunch Provided
1200 - 1230	Lessons for Australia from Mumbai Terrorist Attack (Counter Terrorism) Dr Greg Barton - Herb Feith Research Professor for the Study of Indonesia, Monash University		Challenges when combating natural disasters, ie floods, storms and tsunami (Emergency Management) Steve Opper - Director, Emergency Risk Management, New South Wales State Emergency Service	Smart Applications for Emergencies (SAFE) strategic project (CCTV) Professor Chris Scott — National ICT Australia (NICTA) Queensland Research Lab.

It may be necessary for reasons beyond the control of the organisers to alter the content of the programme schedule - Please see Information & Registration for further details.

Transportation buses will be provided to and from selected hotels at specified times

Wednesday 4 March 2009

For Today’s Conference Forums and Workshops, Please refer to page 1 of the Conference Programme Schedule
Time	Hall 1	Hall 2	Hall 3	Workshops/Forums
1230 - 1320	Lunch (Served in Exhibition area)			Forum Continued - See Above
1320 - 1400	Keynote Presentation - The role of user-centered design in developing technologies for public safety Bruce Claxton - Senior Director, Design Integration, Motorola

1400 - 1430

Using Police Information In the Mobile Environment (Future Technologies) Ian Readhead — Director of Information, ACPO Criminal Records Office (ACRO) - UK Police

National-level Best Practice for Emergency Management (Information Management) Mr Ron Bender - Director of Strategic Solutions - Tyco Electronics Wireless Systems

Fighting Fires with Military Hardware (Future Technologies) Oliver Hanfelder — Airmatic (Germany)

1430 - 1500	Capture and Visualisation of Fire Ground Intelligence in the NSW RFS (Critical Infrastructure) Gareth Carter - Manager GIS, NSW Rural Fire Service	Public Safety Technologies in public transport (Community Safety) Evan Craig - Manager, Control Systems Architecture, Systems & Information Services Division - Department of Transport	Mobile Phone GPS tracking of personnel (Future Technologies) Michael Robson - Managing Director, Mapmates	Local Government Emergency Response & Enforcement Forum Time - 1430 - 1700 Location - VIP Room - Level 1, Australian Technology Park Note - Afternoon Tea Provided
1500 - 1530	Afternoon Tea (Served in Exhibition area)
1530 - 1600	Operational and Planning Challenges during APEC 2007 (Emergency Management) Commander Peter Lennon — New South Wales Police				P25 Encryption Management - Improving radio communications security (Information Management) Simon Britten — Tait Electronics	Early warning systems for Major Climate Events (Emergency Management) John Hadnmer - RMIT
1600 - 1630	Challenge of managing a remote event - Kargaroo Island Fires (Emergency Management) Deputy Fire Chief Andrew Lawson — Country Fire Service, South Australia				The Future Direction of Project 25 (Information Management) Robert Barden — Aeroflex Incorp.	Impact of VoIP on Community Safety (Telecommunications) James Cavanagh — Knowledge Transfer Agent, The Consulant Registry

The speakers, topics and times are correct at the time of publishing and in the event of unforeseen circumstances, Australasia APCO Ltd. reserves the right to alter or delete items from the Conference Programme. All opinions expressed by presenters at the 2009 APCO Australasia Conference & Exhibition are those of the individual, and Australasia APCO Ltd. accepts no liability from any contractual, tortious or other form of liability for loss or damage suffered by the delegate or their later substitute relying on any statement, representative advice or opinion (whether true or otherwise, written or oral).

It may be necessary for reasons beyond the control of the organisers to alter the content of the programme schedule - Please see Information & Registration for further details.

Transportation buses will be provided to and from selected hotels at specified times

2009 Vehicle Displays

Leadership in Public Safety

“when every second counts”

^{A selection of some of the Emergency Vehicles on display}

Holden Commodore - Emergency Services Concept Vehicle (ESCV)

This project was developed based on concerns from ESO’s regarding the effect of heat, power overload and increased equipment levels and their impact on Emergency Services vehicles and occupant comfort/safety. The purpose of SAFE was to gain an understanding of the emergency driver user-interface requirements and safety issues, and develop a standard interface platform for addressing ergonomic design and safety.

Holden Commodore - LAPD Prototype Patrol Vehicle

The National Safety Agency (NSA) with the LAPD’s Deputy Chief Charles Beck will be launching the LAPDs jointly developed high-tech emergency response prototype vehicle of the future.

Holden Commodore - MFB Operational Concept Vehicle

The MFB operational concept vehicle was designed by the National Safety Agency in accordance with research conducted from the ESCV project.

Mitsubishi Pajero - Forward Command Vehicle

With communication in the field so crucial to optimise emergency management & response, NSA teamed up with several vendors to create a concept command vehicle for the Fire and Emergency Services sector. With Mitsubishi as the vehicle sponsor, a Pajero was chosen as the preferred vehicle in this project.

Where possible, NSA works with the vehicle manufacturer to leverage off a lot of the technology already within modern vehicles, including the CANBUS and GPRS to maximise the differentiation of each integration solution; however, to maximise battery life and enable non-vehicle related systems to be operational 24/7 for immediate use, this vehicle was integrated with an environmentally friendly solar power solution.

Technology was utilised from a number of vendors, encompassing areas such as communications, Intelematics, vehicle tracking, lights and warning systems, mobile data and the aforementioned power management.

AirServices Australia Aviation Fire Rescue Vehicle

The Ultra Large Fire Vehicles Mk7 are deployed across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane airports. The Vehicle is a 6x6 wheel drive, fully automatic, 33 tonne foam,water and dry chemical fire rescue tender,holding 10,200lt’s of water 1,300lt’s of foam and 225kg of dry chemical powder discharging its payload at a rate of 4,750lt’s per minute and a throw distance of 75 metres. The Mk 7 is capable of holding a crew of 5.

Holden Commodore - Unmarked Enforcement Vehicle

Developed as an ANPR unmarked enforcement vehicle by the National Safety Agency, this vehicle is currently being tested for traffic enforcement purposes.

A number of additional Emergency Vehicles and First Responders will also be on display in the Exhibition area during this event, including the latest Mining Rescue Vehicle, Parking Enforcement Vehicle, a range of Fire Appliances, Communications and Command Vehicles and a Large Urban Search and Rescue Unit.

It may be necessary for reasons beyond the control of the organisers to alter the content of the programme schedule - Please see Information & Registration for further details.

Transportation buses will be provided to and from selected hotels at specified times

Community Warning Systems - Balancing Technology and Reliability

Next Tuesday I will talking on "Community Warning Systems - Balancing Technology and Reliability" at the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials Australia 2009 Conference in Sydney. The conference topics have been changed at short notice to address some early lessons learnt from the recent and ongoing Victorian bushfires. I was asked today to speak. So my presentation has been prepared in the last three hours. Comments, corrections and suggested additions are welcome:

The Internet and web have a useful role in emergency communications, provided the use is planned. However, VOIP communications and the Government's National Boradband Network will may make Australia more vulnerable, unless the system is built to a higher standard. The an ad-hoc arrangement of state based telephone-based emergency warning systems is no substitute for a nationally coordinated system. Digital technologies such as Cell Broadcast provide a better alternative. Emergency officials need to listen to what the ICT professionals tell them is possible and not just try and build digital versions of old analog and teletype systems. Both professions need to take the public into their confidence and treat the community as partners, not as victims. Current warning formats, such as used by Tsunami Warning Centers, do not make good use of Internet technology and there is the potential for Social Networking to be used for emergencies

Summary from "Community Warning Systems - Balancing Technology and Reliability", Tom Worthington, For the APCO Australasia Annual Conference, Australian Technology Park, Sydney, 10am, 3 March 2009

Lack of an Australian emergency warning systems risking lives and wasting money

The Attorney-General and the Minister for Broadband have announced legislation to enable states to implement telephone-based emergency warning systems. This ad-hoc arrangement is no substitute for a nationally coordinated system. The decision by the federal government not to build a national system risks lives and wastes resources. Any ICT professional involved in policy, planning or implementation of such systems needs to consider if they are acting ethically and lawfully. The "Nuremberg Defense" has limited applicability to professionals, who are required to act in the public interest, regardless of the instructions they are given by their superiors.

Joint Media Release

Attorney-General
The Hon Robert McClelland MP

Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy
Senator the Hon Stephen Conroy

23 February 2009

RUDD GOVERNMENT IMPLEMENTS COAG AGREEMENT ON TELEPHONE-BASED EMERGENCY WARNING SYSTEMS

The Rudd Government will today introduce into Parliament amendments to the Telecommunications Act 1997 to enable access to the Integrated Public Number Database (IPND) for telephone-based emergency warning systems established by the States and Territories.

Access to the IPND will be provided through a new secure database which provides real-time access to up-to-date telephone numbers while protecting the identity of individuals. The Government will provide $11.3 million for this purpose. A request for tender to build the database will be issued shortly.

Telephone-based emergency warning systems have been the subject of discussions between the Commonwealth, States and Territories since 2004. Until 2008, no agreement was reached.

In 2008, the Rudd Government placed the issue on the COAG agenda. COAG agreed it was a priority and commissioned the work necessary to reach agreement by the end of 2008. This work was completed, and agreement was achieved in November 2008.

This agreement was necessary to address important concerns such as ensuring telephone-based emergency warning systems do not overload and disable the telecommunications network (including access to the 000 emergency hotline) and the security of individuals’ personal information.

In accordance with the agreement, the Government immediately commenced drafting legislation to authorise access to the IPND. The necessary legislation and database the Government is putting in place will enable the States and Territories to access the data needed to develop their own warning systems as soon as possible.

The historical advice to the Commonwealth has been that any plan to allow the States and Territories access to the IPND as part of any emergency warning system would be best secured by a legislative amendment. Nevertheless, in light of the bushfire emergency in Victoria the Government has also sought advice from the Solicitor-General on an interim measure to allow access.

Based on this advice, the Government will today also make a regulation under the Telecommunications Act 1997 enabling interim access to the IPND.

This will enable immediate access to the IPND by individual States and Territories who wish to implement a more limited system as soon as possible. It should be emphasized that this is not a long-term solution and not a substitute for amendments to the Telecommunications Act 1997 and the planned future access arrangements for the IPND.

Under the COAG agreement, States and Territories retain autonomy about the warning systems they choose to implement.

The Commonwealth has today written to the States and Territories advising that if they are able to agree to a national system at the next possible COAG meeting the Commonwealth will make a further financial contribution to establish such a system, to be owned and operated by the States and Territories.

Whether or not a national system is established, there remain technological challenges to overcome to enable any system to communicate with all telephones in a threatened area. Advice to the Government is that current technology is limited to communicating with fixed landlines, and mobile telephones on the basis of billing address only (rather than the location of the handset). This can mean individuals in a threatened area do not receive a warning on their phones, and individuals outside a threatened area receive irrelevant warnings.

To help address this gap, at the next COAG meeting the Commonwealth will offer the States and Territories financial assistance for them to conduct collaborative research on the viability of a location-based emergency warning system.

It should also be remembered that telephone-based emergency warning systems are only a supplement to, and not a replacement for, the range of measures currently used to warn the public of emergencies, such as television and radio, public address systems, doorknocking, sirens, signage and the internet.

The steps announced by the Rudd Government today will help make telephone-based emergency warning systems one part of Australia’s disaster response capability. ...

Tsunami warning system overloaded

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a bulletin at 0211z 04 Jan 2009 on a 7.5 magnitude earthquake in Irian Jaya, Indonesia. The reports of tsunami wave activity were not serious (Saipan US 0.10m, Tosashimizu Shikoku 0.15m). However, a potentially serious problem is that the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center web server was not responding:

Message pacific.2009.01.04.020955

Fatal error: Maximum execution time of 25 seconds exceeded in /ptwc/www/html/include/inc_lastRSS.php on line 92

From: TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 002 (html version), PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS, ISSUED AT 0211Z 04 JAN 2009

The problem only occurred with the HTML version of the message, the text only version was unaffected. The problem appears to have affected the HTML versions of all the tsunami warnings, including those a month old. The RSS feed version of the service was unaffected.

By 2:46 pm AEST, the PTWC web site was providing a blank web page, rather than error message. The header and sidebar of the page was appearing, but the tsunami bulletin details, which are the essential information, were missing. An inspection of the source code showed commented out code for "2008 Tsunami Awareness Month" and "Exercise Pacific Wave 08". Both these events are over and the redundant code should be deleted. There were also two Javascript files included (total 53 Kbytes). Inclusion of this unnecessary code would slow down the display of the web page, adding to the site's problems.

NOAA need to modify the design of their system to better cope with the likely load. This can't be done by simply installing more web server capacity. The design of the Internet service needs to take the requirements for sudden high demand into account.

The West Coast & Alaska Tsunami Warning Center provided a map of the location of the earthquake. However, it then referred the reader to the Pacific centre for more details.

The Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre issued a "National No Threat Bulletin" 2026Z Sat 03 Jan 2009.

ICT professionals may feel it is not their place to tell emergency experts and government officials how to do their business, but in this case it is. Failure to build an effective warning system is unethical, and in addition may be a crime.

International Tsunami Warning Excercise Pacific Wave 2008

An international exercise to test tsunami warning systems is currently taking place across the Pacific. Exercise Pacific Wave 08 is testing the distribution of tsunami advisories (bulletins, watches and warnings), by the international and national centres, including the Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre (JATWC).

The exercise scenario uses a fictional Tsunami from a magnitude 9.2 earthquake near Japan on October 29, 2008 at 0000UTC. There is a carefully scripted list of events scheduled at specific times in a detailed 132 page Exercise Pacific Wave 08 Technical Bulletin. The exercise materials are supposed to be marked "For Exercise Purposes Only" to distinguish them from real messages and if there is a major real event the exercise will be cancelled.

Pacific countries are being encouraged to exercise their own internal tsunami warning and emergency response procedures. While messages are issued by the international warning centres, it can take a long time for them to reach the population.

Dangerous Lack of Standardisation in Tsunami Message Format

While the exercise has been carefully planned, one problem with the warning systems remain: there is no standard international format for tsunami warning messages. The formats used for tsunami warnings predate the Internet and were designed for devices such as Teletype machines. As a result there are incompatibilities between the formats and Internet technology which could cause dangerous miscommunication. In addition there is no rigorously defined format for messages.

As an example the exercise document states that "All documentation and correspondence relating to this exercise is to be clearly identified as Exercise Pacific Wave 08 and For Exercise Purposes Only." However, only the first two of the supplied exercise messages include the text "Exercise Pacific Wave 08" and none of the messages include "For Exercise Purposes Only". Such imprecision can cause dangerous confusion, with the exercise messages being mistaken for real ones and real messages for exercises.

International tsunami authorities need to agree one standard format for tsunami messages which has a precisely defined format and wording and is compatible both with the Internet and backward compatible with older communication devices. Failure to do so could result in the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives.

The initial bulletin will be issued by the NWPTAC because the earthquake is located in the immediate vicinity of Japan. Initial bulletins from PTWC and WC/ATWC will follow, initially using the earthquake parameters from the NWPTAC. To avoid any possible misinterpretation, bulletins issued by the warning centers will be in a “dummy” exercise message format (Appendix I) that will refer participants to a specific scenario bulletin number in this exercise manual (in Appendices II – IV). Dummy messages will be issued for each simulated real message at the beginning of the exercise, but later PTWC and WC/ATWC dummy messages will be issued only once every four hours until the simulated tsunami has crossed the entire Pacific and the exercise concludes. ...

TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 001
PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS
ISSUED AT 0010Z 29 OCT 2008
THIS BULLETIN APPLIES TO AREAS WITHIN AND BORDERING THE PACIFIC
OCEAN AND ADJACENT SEAS...EXCEPT ALASKA...BRITISH COLUMBIA...
WASHINGTON...OREGON AND CALIFORNIA.
... A TSUNAMI WARNING AND WATCH ARE IN EFFECT ...
A TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR
JAPAN / RUSSIA / MARCUS IS.
A TSUNAMI WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR
N. MARIANAS / GUAM / WAKE IS. / CHINESE TAIPEI / TAIWAN / YAP /
PHILIPPINES / MARSHALL IS. / CHUUK / MIDWAY IS. / POHNPEI /
BELAU / KOSRAE / INDONESIA / PAPUA NEW GUINEA / HAWAII
FOR ALL OTHER AREAS COVERED BY THIS BULLETIN... IT IS FOR
INFORMATION ONLY AT THIS TIME.
THIS BULLETIN IS ISSUED AS ADVICE TO GOVERNMENT AGENCIES. ONLY
NATIONAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO MAKE
DECISIONS REGARDING THE OFFICIAL STATE OF ALERT IN THEIR AREA AND
ANY ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN IN RESPONSE.
AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS
ORIGIN TIME - 0000Z 29 OCT 2008
COORDINATES - 40.0 NORTH 143.0 EAST
DEPTH - 33 KM
LOCATION - OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU JAPAN
MAGNITUDE - 8.5
EVALUATION
IT IS NOT KNOWN THAT A TSUNAMI WAS GENERATED. THIS WARNING IS
BASED ONLY ON THE EARTHQUAKE EVALUATION. AN EARTHQUAKE OF THIS
SIZE HAS THE POTENTIAL TO GENERATE A DESTRUCTIVE TSUNAMI THAT CAN
STRIKE COASTLINES NEAR THE EPICENTER WITHIN MINUTES AND MORE
DISTANT COASTLINES WITHIN HOURS. AUTHORITIES SHOULD TAKE
APPROPRIATE ACTION IN RESPONSE TO THIS POSSIBILITY. THIS CENTER
WILL MONITOR SEA LEVEL DATA FROM GAUGES NEAR THE EARTHQUAKE TO
DETERMINE IF A TSUNAMI WAS GENERATED AND ESTIMATE THE SEVERITY OF
THE THREAT.
ESTIMATED INITIAL TSUNAMI WAVE ARRIVAL TIMES AT FORECAST POINTS
WITHIN THE WARNING AND WATCH AREAS ARE GIVEN BELOW. ACTUAL
ARRIVAL TIMES MAY DIFFER AND THE INITIAL WAVE MAY NOT BE THE
LARGEST. A TSUNAMI IS A SERIES OF WAVES AND THE TIME BETWEEN
SUCCESSIVE WAVES CAN BE FIVE MINUTES TO ONE HOUR.
LOCATION FORECAST POINT COORDINATES ARRIVAL TIME
-------------------------------- ------------ ------------
JAPAN HACHINOHE 40.5N 141.7E 0033Z 29 OCT
IOC Technical Series No. 82 Appendix II
page 12
KUSHIRO 42.9N 144.3E 0043Z 29 OCT
KATSUURA 35.0N 140.3E 0102Z 29 OCT
SHIMIZU 32.8N 133.0E 0225Z 29 OCT
OKINAWA 26.2N 127.8E 0319Z 29 OCT
RUSSIA URUP IS 46.1N 150.5E 0118Z 29 OCT
PETROPAVLOVSK K 53.2N 159.6E 0226Z 29 OCT
SEVERO KURILSK 50.8N 156.1E 0229Z 29 OCT
UST KAMCHATSK 56.1N 162.6E 0248Z 29 OCT
MEDNNY IS 54.7N 167.4E 0249Z 29 OCT
MARCUS IS. MARCUS IS. 24.3N 154.0E 0225Z 29 OCT
N. MARIANAS SAIPAN 15.3N 145.8E 0326Z 29 OCT
GUAM GUAM 13.4N 144.7E 0342Z 29 OCT
WAKE IS. WAKE IS. 19.3N 166.6E 0350Z 29 OCT
CHINESE TAIPEI HUALIEN 24.0N 121.7E 0403Z 29 OCT
TAITUNG 22.7N 121.2E 0407Z 29 OCT
CHILUNG 25.2N 121.8E 0430Z 29 OCT
KAOHSIUNG 22.5N 120.3E 0442Z 29 OCT
TAIWAN HUALIEN 24.0N 121.6E 0404Z 29 OCT
YAP YAP IS. 9.5N 138.1E 0417Z 29 OCT
PHILIPPINES PALANAN 17.1N 122.6E 0425Z 29 OCT
LAOAG 18.2N 120.5E 0445Z 29 OCT
SAN FERNANDO 16.7N 120.2E 0504Z 29 OCT
LEGASPI 13.2N 123.8E 0507Z 29 OCT
DAVAO 6.8N 125.7E 0521Z 29 OCT
ZAMBOANGA 6.9N 122.1E 0605Z 29 OCT
MARSHALL IS. ENIWETOK 11.4N 162.3E 0428Z 29 OCT
KWAJALEIN 8.7N 167.7E 0511Z 29 OCT
MAJURO 7.1N 171.4E 0540Z 29 OCT
CHUUK CHUUK IS. 7.4N 151.8E 0432Z 29 OCT
MIDWAY IS. MIDWAY IS. 28.2N 177.4W 0443Z 29 OCT
POHNPEI POHNPEI IS. 7.0N 158.2E 0444Z 29 OCT
BELAU MALAKAL 7.3N 134.5E 0446Z 29 OCT
KOSRAE KOSRAE IS. 5.5N 163.0E 0511Z 29 OCT
INDONESIA GEME 4.6N 126.8E 0519Z 29 OCT
BEREBERE 2.5N 128.7E 0529Z 29 OCT
WARSA 0.6S 135.8E 0545Z 29 OCT
MANOKWARI 0.8S 134.2E 0552Z 29 OCT
PATANI 0.4N 128.8E 0554Z 29 OCT
MANADO 1.6N 124.9E 0601Z 29 OCT
SORONG 0.8S 131.1E 0604Z 29 OCT
JAYAPURA 2.4S 140.8E 0607Z 29 OCT
PAPUA NEW GUINE KAVIENG 2.5S 150.7E 0556Z 29 OCT
MANUS IS. 2.0S 147.5E 0556Z 29 OCT
VANIMO 2.6S 141.3E 0607Z 29 OCT
BULLETINS WILL BE ISSUED HOURLY OR SOONER IF CONDITIONS WARRANT.
THE TSUNAMI WARNING AND WATCH WILL REMAIN IN EFFECT UNTIL
FURTHER NOTICE.
THE JAPAN METEOROLOGICAL AGENCY MAY ALSO ISSUE TSUNAMI MESSAGES
FOR THIS EVENT TO COUNTRIES IN THE NORTHWEST PACIFIC AND SOUTH
CHINA SEA REGION. IN CASE OF CONFLICTING INFORMATION... THE
MORE CONSERVATIVE INFORMATION SHOULD BE USED FOR SAFETY.
THE WEST COAST/ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER WILL ISSUE PRODUCTS
FOR ALASKA...BRITISH COLUMBIA...WASHINGTON...OREGON...CALIFORNIA. ...

From: Exercise Pacific Wave 08 Technical Bulliten, Commission océanographique intergouvernementale. Exercise Pacific Wave 08. A Pacific-wide Tsunami Warning and Communication Exercise Pacific, 28–30 October 2008. IOC Technical Series No. 82. Paris, UNESCO, 2008. (English)