The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO and the JRC have collaborated on many aspects in the North-Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean (NEAM) region, including the preparation of tsunami scenarios, provision of operational tsunami early warning software to Tsunami Service Providers, the establishment and management of inexpensive sea-level devices network, and recently initiatives towards community preparedness and response in the Mediterranean region through the Tsunami Last Mile Projects in Greece, Turkey, and Malta. One of the most recent examples of such collaboration is through the DG-ECHO / UNESCO-IOC Project “CoastWAVE”, which was initiated in September 2021. The project aims to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable coastal communities in the North-East Atlantic, Mediterranean, and its connected seas (NEAM) region to tsunamis and other sea level-related hazards. In particular, the collaboration includes building tsunami resilience at the local level and ensuring the longer-term sustainability of the Inexpensive Device for Sea Level (IDSL) network to provide early warning of rapid onset sea level-related hazards in selected NEAMTWS countries. 

IOC UNESCO and JRC of the European Commission are co-organizing a workshop on the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) Planning and Implementation for Tsunami Response in the NEAM region from 5 to 6 October 2022 at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra, Italy following the hybrid workshop on the Requirements, Challenges, Opportunities for Local Tsunami Warning Systems in the Context of Multi-Hazard Disaster Risk Mitigation in the NEAM Region to be held from 4 to 5 October 2022.

Several workshops and training have been carried out over the years by IOC UNESCO and partners in the Pacific, the Caribbean, and the Indian Ocean to support the development of tsunami Standard Operating Procedures (SOP). This workshop will set a benchmark for tsunami SOP development in the NEAM region in the context of the CoastWAVE project by sharing experiences and lessons learned from the other ICG / tsunami regions.