SENAT
Report n° 117 (2007-2008) by M. Roland COURTEAU, Senator (for the parliament office for the evaluation of scientific and technological choices) - Appendix to the minutes of the 7 December 2007 session
Disponible au format Acrobat (21 Moctets)
SUMMARY OF PROPOSALS
1. The proposals applying to all four basins:
- Commission CEA to act as the national tsunami warning centre for the Mediterranean/northeast Atlantic, the West Indies and the Indian Ocean and to develop a method for forecasting regional and teletsunamis.
- Allow the future national warning centre to also act as a regional warning centre in the western Mediterranean/northeast Atlantic, the West Indies and the western Indian Ocean, in collaboration with the other regional warning centres present in each basin.
- Create a steering committee coordinated by the Department of the Sea, responsible for setting up a national tsunami warning system and made up of representatives of:
· those ministries concerned by tsunami-risk management (Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development; Ministry of the Interior and the Overseas Territories; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ministry of Higher Education and Research; Ministry of Education);
· those bodies competent in this domain (CEA, Météo France, SHOM, IFREMER, BRGM, CNRS, CETMEF
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, IPGP, ANR, Conservatoire du Littoral, etc);
· the local governments of tsunami-vulnerable areas.
- Provide the Department of the Sea with a long-term budget to finance the setting up of a tsunami warning system (equipping the system with tide gauges, seismic stations and tsunamimeters capable of transmitting their data in real-time; funding those bathymetric-survey programmes judged indispensable; setting up GPS geodesic networks to be able to precisely record strong earthquakes).
- Strengthen the means available to the National Committee of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, to allow it to coordinate the French position during the sessions of the four intergovernmental coordination groups for setting up a tsunami warning system and ensure that France is represented in each working group.
- Complete the "objective agreements" of those bodies involved in the tsunami warning system, so that this mission is made officially known and is funded by a specific line of credit.
- Provide SHOM with a mandate to coordinate the sea-level measurement activities in France and adapt its network of tide gauges so that their data is transmitted in real-time.
- Complete the bathymetric surveys to cover the zone from 0 to -200 m in both metropolitan France and overseas.
- Improve the satellite-based tsunami observation system by systematically including a specialized tsunami-observation mechanism in all low-orbit satellites scheduled for launch over the coming years.
- Plan on regularly updating the tsunami database entrusted to BRGM and take into account any on-site studies carried out over time.
- Encourage the National Research Agency to favour studies on geological and coastal hazards - in particular, those concerned with the evaluation and forecasting of tsunami-generating events (earthquakes, underwater landslides, cliff collapses).
- Following each tsunami, finance post-tsunami, on-site surveys in both metropolitan France and overseas.
- Carry out training exercises to test the effectiveness of the warning system, taking into account the entire decision-making chain, and identify any possible problems/malfunctions.
- Create inundation and evacuation maps for the main harbours and densely-populated coastal areas, to serve as decision-making tools for emergency-assistance management and urban development.
- Evaluate the need to install sirens to alert the population of each basin.
- Regularly raise public awareness concerning natural hazards, via exhibitions, news reports, scientific television/radio programmes, conferences, etc.
- Involve the local elected officials, harbour authorities and tourist professionals in setting up public-awareness campaigns for the harbours and coastal zones.
- Integrate natural-hazard education in the school programmes.
- Experiment with the management of certain local-tsunami warning systems, in cooperation with the interested local governments.
2. The basin-specific proposals
In the Mediterranean/northeast Atlantic zone
- Update to real-time the 11 tide gauges that already have the appropriate outlet, finish updating the Toulon, Marseille, Nice and Ajaccio tide gauges, and complete the system by installing two new tide gauges in Corsica (Bonifacio and Porto Vecchio) before the next session of the ICG/NEAMTWS in 2008.
- Install 2 tsunamimeters north of Algeria.
- Finalize the specialized tsunami emergency-assistance plan for the metropolitan coast, by relying on the scientific expertise of CEA.
- Make the setting up of a tsunami warning system a priority of the French presidency of the European Union starting in July 2008 and mobilize all the member states and concerned directorate generals of the European Commission, in order to define and finance a plan for the modernization of the national tide gauges and the installation of tsunamimeters.
- Direct French diplomacy towards encouraging the North African countries to share their seismic and sea-level data.
- Consider a bilateral or European partnership to accelerate the equipping of the North African coasts with tide gauges and tsunamimeters.
- Carry out a feasibility study on the automated management of local-tsunami warnings in certain, particularly vulnerable zones, in collaboration with the civil-protection services, local governements, concerned harbour authorities and associated manufacturers, and, if need be, carry out an exercise.
In the Caribbean
- Update the 3 tide gauges managed by SHOM, integrate the network of tide gauges currently managed by the OVSG and the local governments into the warning system, and finance the installation of 3 additional tide gauges east of La Désirade, south of Martinique and north of Guadeloupe.
- Evaluate the need to install sirens to alert the population.
- Finalize the specialized tsunami emergency plan for the West Indies, by relying on the scientific expertise of CEA.
- Clarify by agreement the respective tasks of IPGP (responsible for seismic monitoring in the West Indies) and CEA (responsible for issuing tsunami warnings).
- Carry out a feasibility study on the automated management of local-tsunami warnings in certain, particularly vulnerable zones, in collaboration with the civil-protection services, local governments, concerned harbour authorities and associated manufacturers, and, if need be, carry out an experimentation.
- Clarify the situation in French Guiana and Saint Martin by studying the tsunami vulnerability of these zones and, if need be, integrate them into the national tsunami warning strategy for the West Indies (installing sea-level measuring devices and seismic stations, defining a specialized emergency-assistance plan, raising public awareness, etc.).
- At the international level, ensure that France is represented in the working groups of the ICG/Caribbean-TWS during each of its sessions, especially if France plans on becoming a regional tsunami warning centre.
- Host the ICG/Caribbean-TWS meeting in 2009.
In the Indian Ocean
- Redirect the €305,000 attributed to Météo France for the creation of a national warning centre in the Indian Ocean (and which will not be spent, due to the modification of the initial project) to the budget for setting up a coherent, perennial national warning system.
- Ensure the installation by SHOM of a tide gauge in Mayotte and Madagascar, as specified in the agreement signed between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Météo France, and complete the system by installing a second tide gauge in La Réunion.
- At the international level, ensure that France is represented in the working groups of the ICG/IOTWS during each of its sessions, especially if France plans on becoming a regional tsunami warning centre.
In the Pacific
- Set up the previously presented warning system in the southwest Pacific, which necessitates the installation of 15 tide gauges and 1 tsunamimeter.
- Determine the number of necessary sirens and finalize an equipment-development plan for the islands, in collaboration with the High State Authority of New Caledonia, the Overseas Ministry and the local elected officials of the French territories in this zone.
- Finalize the specialized tsunami emergency plan for New Caledonia and Wallis and Futuna.
- Install 3 tide gauges transmitting their data in real-time on the borders of French Polynesia, in order to complete this zone's warning system.
- Provide CEA with an official mandate, so that LDG/Pamatai can take on a mission of cooperation with regard to tsunami warnings for the Pacific region and provide it with sufficient funding for it to carry out several assessment and training missions per year.
* 80 Centre d'Etudes Maritimes Et Fluviales ("Sea and River Research Centre").