Menu

Improving the time of receiving tsunami warning information to within one minute
Achievements

Improving the time of receiving tsunami warning information to within one minute

# Public Sector # ICT # Overseas # Telecommunication # America # Disaster Risk Management

Preparing against the increasing occurrence and risk of natural disasters

The Republic of Peru is located on the west side of the South American continent, facing the Pacific Ocean, and is known for its famous tourist attractions such as the Machu Picchu ruins and the Nazca Lines. The country is also known to be at high risk of tsunami disasters due to its location in the Circum-Pan-Pacific Earthquake Belt, a region that has experienced major earthquakes in the past. Studies have shown that the number of disasters caused by natural phenomena has been increasing over the past 30 years, and the observation of earthquakes and earthquake-induced tsunamis, as well as the strengthening of forecasting and warning systems for residents, have become urgent issues. Meanwhile, Japan also experienced the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011. One of the lessons learned is that tsunami warnings play an important role in facilitating evacuation and preventing accidents on public transport. The Japan Meteorological Agency has set up a study group of experts to further improve the tsunami warning system. Under these circumstances, the Government of Japan conducted a survey of Asian and Pacific Rim countries that are considered to be at high risk from earthquakes and tsunamis in order to grasp the current status of their disaster prevention measures, and decided to support six countries including Peru. The purpose of this Project is to establish an Emergency Warning Broadcast System and a tidal gauge on the Pacific coast of Peru, to improve the country's tsunami disaster-prevention capacity and provide early warnings and to reduce the damage caused by natural disasters.

  • Using EWBS to issue an alarm on the TV screen (demo)

Protecting the lives of 10 million people

This Project was implemented under Japanese Grant Aid scheme and we were in charge of survey, design, bidding and supervision of the installation of the EWBS and tide gauge. At the survey and design stage, the details of the equipment and their installation location have been decided, in accordance with the "basic policy for recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake". EWBS of the Japan-Brazil standard of digital terrestrial broadcasting was installed at the Headquarter of TV Peru and 7 branches (Trujillo, Lima, Cañete, Pisco, Arequipa, Camaná, Ilo). Tide gauges for tsunami observation were installed at eight coastal locations (La Cruz, Bayóvar, Huarmey, Huacho, Cerro Azul, Atico, La Planchada, and Caleta Grau) in addition to the 9 existing ones. In terms of tsunami observation, a network of total of 17 tide gauges made it possible to cover approximately 2,200 km of the Peruvian coastline and improved the accuracy of tsunami observation. In addition, the EWBS has strengthened the ability to communicate disaster information in Peru, a country prone to earthquakes and tsunamis and other disasters. Approximately 10 million people in areas of this Project (about 1/3 of Peru's total population) will be able to take early evacuation and other actions in the occurrence of a disaster such as an earthquake or tsunami, by receiving the information provided from the system.

  • Installation of tide gauge (La Cruz)

Project Details

    Project: The Project for Improvement of Equipment for Disaster Risk Management in the Republic of Peru
    Client: Japan International Cooperation System (JICS)