Walking the Last Mile: Contributions to the Development of an End-to-End Tsunami Early Warning System in Indonesia

Establishing the Tsunami Early Warning System in Indonesia (InaTEWS) has been a process of learning and innovation. Three different initiatives, implemented by the German-Indonesian Cooperation for a Tsunami Early Warning System (GITEWS), the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesian—LIPI) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), contributed to the learning and innovation process with a strong focus on tsunami preparedness at the community level during the implementation phase of InaTEWS. The lessons learned as well as the tested and validated procedures resulting from this innovative process have been documented and are currently being extended to make them available nationwide. Experiences from the pilot phase show that there is still a great need to strengthen the capacity of national government institutions, local governments and civil society in order to provide the services necessary for sustainable tsunami preparedness. Key points for the way ahead are building a better understanding of the system, the warning service and the contents of warnings, strengthening the role of local disaster-management agencies and governments as well as the institutionalization of early warning at all levels and to systematically scaling up the successful experiences from pilot areas.