The South China Sea Tsunami Advisory Center completed its 2025 short-term secondment programme, a two-month initiative aimed at strengthening regional cooperation on tsunami early warning and response. Organized by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO and hosted by China’s National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center in Beijing, the programme brought together tsunami warning specialists from Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines to enhance shared technical capacity and operational coordination.
Between October and December 2025, participants were embedded in the daily operations of the advisory centre, receiving hands-on training in earthquake and tsunami monitoring, forecasting models and decision-support systems. By taking part in watchstanding duties, emergency drills, communication tests and regional tsunami exercises, the secondees gained practical insight into how a regional tsunami advisory centre operates within the IOC Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System.
The programme also emphasized institutional exchange and community engagement. Participants visited the China Earthquake Networks Center and the Ningbo Marine Station, expanding their understanding of seismic and marine monitoring systems. Engagements with coastal communities recognized under the IOC Tsunami Ready initiative provided exposure to community-level preparedness, public awareness approaches and disaster-risk reduction strategies.
At the closing ceremony, the secondees presented recommendations to further strengthen coordination across the South China Sea region. They highlighted the advisory centre’s advanced tools, robust operational procedures and mentoring framework, while identifying opportunities to improve information sharing and joint response capacity among national tsunami warning institutions.
Since its launch in 2018, the Short-term Secondment Programme has trained 16 professionals from across the region and is widely recognized as an effective platform for capacity development, operational exchange and confidence-building. By fostering sustained collaboration and technical alignment, the initiative continues to contribute to stronger tsunami risk reduction efforts and improved coastal resilience across the South China Sea region.
