The NDMO and partners such as Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) Australia and Pacific Geo Science Commission, SOPAC, had been running a series of lead up activities for this major exercise since late September.
Those exercises will be conducted to prepare various government, NGO and international organisations to prepare their own plans for the major tsunami exercise next month.
In mid September the NDMO and partners conducted a discussion exercise to set individual call out procedures and early stage planning.
In mid October, they conducted table top exercises in Honiara, Auki on Malaita and Gizo in Western Province.
The Operational Exercises on Tuesday and Wednesday next week are a culmination of those preparedness activities to see if the plans are in order and would meet the needs and requirements of each partner in a real event.
The exercises next week will require all disaster partners picked for the event to work for 48 hours to address the early warning stage, impact stage and early response stage.
NDMO Director Loti Yates said as this is an exercise, he is advising the public to be aware of this and not panic when they hear warnings through the normal early warning systems such as SIBC and other radio networks.
Mr Yates said the media will be advised to say the word ‘Exercise’ three times before broadcasting any public advices
He reiterated that this is important so that no one gets hurt by rushing about when they hear the warnings.
He also clarified that the exercise will be done like a real event “so this is why it is very important people shouldn’t panic and rush around when they hear public warnings”.
Mr Yates said the exercise is the first of its kind in the country to test both the new National Disaster Risk Management Plan and a sub-tsunami plan developed for Solomon Islands with support from the Bureau of Meteorology of Australia and SOPAC.
The Tsunami Exercise is being funded by BOM, SIG, SOPAC and other partners.
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