Chris Moore (left) helping emergency managers take PMEL tsunami modeling results and create easy to read public evacuation maps for the NOAA TsunamiReady program.
This week, Chris Moore with PMEL is leading and teaching a Community Model Interface for Tsunami (ComMIT) Tsunami Inundation Modeling workshop in Kingstown, St. Vincent in support of NOAA’s Caribbean Tsunami Warning Program and TsunamiReady Program. The results from a full inundation study for St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) will be presented, and the outcome of the workshop will be an evacuation map for the islands of St. Vincent and Union. The workshop is facilitated by a three-member team of experts in tsunami modeling and is the first component of a Tsunami Ready Pilot Project for St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Representatives from the SVG Physical Planning Department and National Emergency Management Organization will be participating in the process and coordinating community outreach activities and creating Standard Operating Procedures in accordance with the TsunamiReady program. The NWS TsunamiReady Program helps communities and local governments and authorities minimize the risk posed by tsunamis through better risk assessment, planning, education and warning communications.
ComMIT is an internet-enabled interface to the community tsunami model developed by the NOAA Center for Tsunami Research (NCTR) at PMEL. As of 2015, more than 325 scientists from 57 countries around the world have been trained and are using ComMIT in inundation mapping.