International Tsunami Information Center

International Tsunami Information Center
NOAA Inouye Regional Center
1845 Wasp Boulevard, Building 176
Honolulu, HI
USA

E-mail: itic.tsunami@noaa.gov
Tel: +1 808 725 6050
Fax: +1 808 725 6055
Map and Directions to ITIC

The International Tsunami Information Center (ITIC) is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA’s) National Weather Service (NWS) Pacific Region, and is co-located with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWS) at NOAA's Inouye Regional Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. The ITIC services are further described by the National Weather Service Instruction (NWSI) 10-702 (ITIC) and 10-703 (Post-tsunami activities).

ITIC serves as a national and international tsunami resource assisting U.S. States/Territories/ Commonwealths, U.S. Compact of Free Association countries, and countries throughout the world for the protection of lives and securing economic prosperity of at-risk coastal communities. The ITIC maintains and develops relationships with scientific research and academic organizations, civil defense agencies, and the general public in order to mitigate the hazards associated with tsunamis by improving tsunami preparedness.

Under global tsunami warning and mitigation system framework coordinated by the United Nation's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), the ITIC serves as the Tsunami Information Center for the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Ocean covers 46 countries, including the United States. For more information, visit the IOC's Tsunami Programme and ITIC web pages.

Origins

The ITIC was established by IOC Resolution IV-6 in November 1965 by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In Resolution IV-6, the United States agreed to host the IOC's ITIC, and since 1965, it has been operated by NOAA's National Weather Service Pacific Region in partnership with the IOC. A non-US Associate Director position was established in 1974, and since 1998, Chileʻs Naval Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service ( Servicio Hidrográfico y Oceanográfico de la Armada de Chile ) has provided the Associate Director (as per IOC Resolution EC-IV.6, 1974). ITIC’s mandate and functions in support of Member States of the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Pacific Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG/PTWS, formerly ITSU) were approved by IOC Resolution X-23 (1977, with clarification in 1988 IOC Resolution EC-XXI.4). In 2015, the PTWS commemorated a half-century of protecting the Pacific, 1965-2015 (book).

The ITIC also maintains an office in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. The ITIC Caribbean Office (ITIC-CAR), established in 2010 as the Caribbean Tsunami Warning Program, reorganized to the ITIC in 2017, and renamed in 2021, supports the IOC's Caribbean Tsunami Information Centre and the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Tsunami and Other Coastal Hazards Warning System for the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions (ICG/CARIBE-EWS).

Mission

The ITIC’s national mission is to mitigate the effects of tsunamis throughout the US and its territories in the Pacific and Caribbean. To accomplish this, ITIC

Assists states and territories to enhance their local systems and improve preparedness
Supports implementation of National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program Strategic Plan
Gathers and promulgates knowledge, and fostering research
Facilitates post-tsunami surveys and science investigations to collect data to improve risk assessment and mitigation.

Domestically, ITIC participates and supports the US National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program (NTHMP) that encompasses 28 coastal states, territories, and commonwealths, and includes NOAA, USGS and FEMA as the US Federal Agencies. ITIC especially supports the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) Area of Responsibility (Hawaii and Pacific-Caribbean insular states (American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands) by providing Impact-Based Decision Support Services (IDSS), outreach and training. ITIC provides in-person IDSS to HI EMA during events.

The ITIC’s international mission is to mitigate the effects of tsunamis throughout the Pacific, Caribbean, and globally. To accomplish this, ITIC

Monitors and recommends improvements in communications, data networks, data acquisition, and information dissemination for the Pacific Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (PTWS),
Assists countries to establish national systems and improve their preparedness
Gathers and promulgates knowledge, and fostering research,
Works with the ICS World Data Service (co-located at NOAA NCEI) to collect and archive tsunami event data, and
Facilitates post-tsunami science investigations to collect data to improve risk assessment and mitigation.
Facilitates the implementation of Tsunami Ready communities
Serves as the IOC's Tsunami Information Centre for the Pacific Ocean
Supports the Caribbean Tsunami Information Center (CTIC) and Tsunami and Other Coastal Hazards Warning System for the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions (CARIBE-EWS)

ITIC provides Impact-Based Decision Support Services (IDSS), outreach and training to countries participating to the Pacific Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (PTWS) and the Tsunami and other Coastal Hazards Warning System for the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions (CARIBE-EWS), including the United States and the US Compact of Free Association countries of the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau. During tsunami events, ITIC provides remote real-time IDSS to countries as needed.

Click to learn more about the ITIC of UNESCO-IOC

CLICK HERE for ITIC 2-minute video

Activities

The ITIC accomplishes its mission through engagements with core partners and the public through in-person and remote technical assistance, training, capacity development, and preparedness and awareness. It also supports the global historical tsunami database and tsunami event data archiving. To sustain and increase awareness, the ITIC continually updates and creates new global and regional tsunami hazard information and tsunami awareness products, in collaboration with the NCEI and the IOC, for distribution within the United States and globally.

Global tsunami map(2023)

Tsunami Glossary
(2019, English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese)

Great Waves
(2014, English, French, Spanish)

Surviving 1960
(2014, English, French, Spanish)