Be Tsunami Ready: Investing in Tsunami Preparedness

On 5 November 2025, representatives from the Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System for Africa and Asia (RIMES), namely Mitesh V. Sawant, Project Manager; Jitlada Phupijit, Meteorologist & GIS Analyst;  Bojara Asvakittimakul, Oceanographer, and Pat Thananchaisirikul, Communication Officer  attended the World Tsunami Awareness Day and the 27^th Meeting of the Advisory Council to the Trust Fund for Tsunami, Disaster and Climate Preparedness, organized by UN ESCAP at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, Thailand.

The World Tsunami Awareness Day offers an opportunity to reflect on two decades of progress made possible by the Trust Fund for Tsunami, Disaster and Climate Preparedness. The Fund has been instrumental in building resilience across Asia and the Pacific by strengthening national and regional early warning capacities. This year’s program included a film screening and a high-level dialogue on sustainable financing for tsunami preparedness.

The 27th Advisory Council Meeting focused on shaping the next phase of regional investment, launching a new Call for Proposals under the Trust Fund Strategy 2025–2030 to further enhance multi-hazard early warning systems and climate preparedness.

For RIMES, this event underscored the organization’s continued leadership through its initiative “Operationalizing Impact-Based Forecasting through Localization of Decision Support Systems for the Agriculture and DRR Sectors.” Covering the period 2025–2027, this initiative represents Phase 3 of RIMES’ Impact-Based Forecasting (IBF) program. It focuses on transforming forecast information into actionable decision support tools at both national and community levels in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.

This phase signifies an important shift from training and capacity development to operational action, ensuring that data-driven forecasts directly inform real-time decisions that protect communities and sustain climate-resilient agriculture. Sustaining these impacts through national ownership, institutional integration, and regional cooperation remains central to RIMES’ long-term approach.

Through its participation, RIMES reaffirmed its commitment to advancing sustainable, impact-based early warning systems that enable proactive and informed decision-making for disaster risk reduction and climate resilience.