GITEWS - German Indian Ocean Tsunami Early Warning System

The GITEWS project is a contribution of the German government to the reconstruction of infrastructures in the region affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami. It is conducted by a consortium of eigth German facilities in cooperation with several regional, national, and international project partners.

The main goal of the project is to establish an effective tsunami early warning system for the Indian Ocean, whose components can also be used for the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean at a later point in time. Furthermore, the tsunami early warning system will be extendable to a 'multi hazard early warning system' which can also detect other natural hazards like earthquakes, landslides, and volcanic eruptions.

Components of GITEWS

The core piece of the system will be represented by the early warning center in Indonesia. For this purpose, a national data center will be established where real-time seismological data as well as other sensor data from GPS buoys, GPS stations, and tide gauges will be integrated. The goal is to determine if a threat is given by a potential tsunami, and its location. This will be achieved by the fast localisation and determination of the strength of an earthquake combined with the computerized simulation of estimated wave heights in case of a submarine earthquake. Therefore the buoys, the GPS stations, and the tide gauges provide additional and verifying data. From the warning center, the processed information (the warning dossier) will be handed out to national, regional and local government offices in order to inform the public and to trigger precautions.

Further information about the GITEWS project you can find on the official web pages:  http://www.gitews.de