On January 26, 2018, with the formal approval of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanography Committee (IOC), the IOC South China Sea Regional Tsunami Warning Center, which was undertaken by the State Oceanic Administration of my country, officially launched a business trial operation. The center's international early warning service areas include the South China Sea, Sulu Sea and Sulawesi Sea , covering the main earthquake subduction zones in the region, providing all-weather earthquake tsunami monitoring and early warning services to China, Brunei, Cambodia , Indones , Malaysia , Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions around the South China Sea.
South China Sea Regional Tsunami Warning Center Area of Warning Service Area (Area of Service)
South China Sea area is located at the edge of the Pacific Ring Seismic Belt. Manila Trench and the Western Pacific Island Arc Belt where the Sulu Sea and Sulawesi Sea are located are internationally recognized as the potential source of tsunamis. The regional tsunamis caused by it pose great threat to countries around the South China Sea. According to historical tsunami data statistics, there have been more than 40 tsunamis in the South China Sea region in history. In 1897, an 8.7-magnitude earthquake occurred in the northern part of the Sulu Sea, causing a strong tsunami, which was reported to kill more than 100 people; in 1976, an 8.0-magnitude earthquake tsunami occurred in the Sulawesi Sea, causing nearly 8,000 deaths or disappearances in the Philippines, and the local tsunami amplitude exceeds 4-5 meters. This is also one of the tsunami disasters with serious casualties since detailed records around the world.
According to numerical simulation, if an 8.5-magnitude earthquake and tsunami occurs in the northern section of the Manila Trench, the tsunami wave will reach the western coast of the Philippines 10-30 minutes after the earthquake. The maximum tsunami amplitude can exceed 10 meters and affect the southern coast of my country, Taiwan Province, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and other countries within the following 1-4 hours. The maximum tsunami amplitude is between 2-5 meters.
This morning, the National Marine Environment Forecasting Center held a media conference
After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the IOC began to establish an international tsunami warning system, expanding from the original only Pacific tsunami warning system area to the Indian Ocean, Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean, as well as the Caribbean, to establish a global tsunami warning system. Since more than 80% of the world's earthquakes and tsunamis are concentrated in the Pacific Ocean, in order to promote coordinated development among countries in the Pacific region and promote the sharing of observation and early warning resources within the region, the Intergovernmental Coordination Group of the Pacific Tsunami Warning System promotes the construction of four sub-regional early warning systems, namely the South China Sea, the Southwest Pacific, the Southeast Pacific and Central America.
Under the active advocacy of our country and Malaysia and other countries, the 23rd meeting of the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Pacific Tsunami Warning and Disaster Reduction System held in 2009 decided to establish a regional working group in the South China Sea to carry out the construction of the South China Sea tsunami warning and disaster reduction system through strengthening regional cooperation. In 2011, at the 24th meeting of the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Pacific Tsunami Warning and Disaster Reduction System, my country recommended that countries in the South China Sea jointly establish a tsunami warning and disaster reduction system in the South China Sea. The 25th Conference of the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Pacific Tsunami Warning and Disaster Reduction System held in 2013 (Vladivostok) officially agreed to build the IOC South China Sea Regional Tsunami Warning Center based on my country's State Oceanic Administration. In June 2017, the 29th IOC All Member States Conference held in Paris officially approved the IOC South China Sea Regional Tsunami Warning Center to launch a business trial operation in early 2018.
New generation of intelligent tsunami monitoring and early warning human-computer interaction platform
In the past four years, my country's earthquake tsunami monitoring and early warning capabilities have been improved leapfrog. In 2015, the State Oceanic Administration completed 25 tsunami observation platforms, strengthening my country's monitoring and early warning capabilities for regional submarine earthquakes and tsunamis. In 2016, the new generation of intelligent tsunami monitoring and early warning human-computer interaction platform independently developed by my country has achieved business operation. The platform integrates 12 subsystems including global submarine earthquake monitoring, global water level monitoring, Pacific tsunami parallel forecast model, tsunami scenario database, and tsunami product production and release, which has greatly shortened the timeliness of my country's tsunami warning from 20-30 minutes in 2015 to 8-10 minutes, reaching the international advanced level.
IOC South China Sea Regional Tsunami Warning Center has been put into operation and is an important achievement in my country's implementation of practical cooperation in the marine field of countries around the South China Sea and participating in global and regional marine governance. The center is also the first international early warning center for 24-hour business operations by the State Oceanic Administration. In the future, with the goal of building an internationally advanced regional tsunami warning center, my country will increase innovation in independent results, strengthen international coordination and cooperation, promote public sharing of data, carry out tsunami monitoring and early warning technical training, form earthquake tsunami monitoring, analysis and early warning capabilities in my country and its neighboring waters and global oceans, and provide rapid tsunami warning information services to my country's coastal areas and countries around the South China Sea.
