SENAT
Report n° 117 (2007-2008) by M. Roland COURTEAU, Senator (for the parliament office for the evaluation of scientific and technological choices) - Appendix to the minutes of the 7 December 2007 session
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b) In the Caribbean
Your rapporteur believes that France must become more involved in the work being carried out by the ICG/Caribbean-TWS. It must therefore attend each session and be represented in each working group.
Your rapporteur also supports the initiative launched by the French delegation during the Venezuelan session to host the ICG/Caribbean-TWS session in 2009. This date could serve as a deadline for defining the French strategy with regard to regional tsunami warnings in the West Indies, as well as the installation and updating of the seismic stations and tide gauges required for the protection of the French West Indies. Your rapporteur would like to once again point out that the 3 tide gauges managed by SHOM have to be rapidly brought up to date to transmit their data in real-time 79 ( * ) and that 3 supplementary tide gauges have to be installed east of La Désirade, south of Martinique and north of Guadeloupe.
Furthermore, we must ensure that the sea-level network that is currently being installed by the OVSG could serve other applications and, consequently, meet the criteria set by GLOSS in its sea-level measuring devices manual. The data gathered by these tide gauges should also be transmitted to SHOM for archiving.
Furthermore, we must make sure that the planned national tsunami warning centre manages the tsunami warnings in the Caribbean, for those tsunamis with a reaction time of greater than 15 minutes (from the time of their generation to their arrival on the coast). On this occasion, it will certainly be necessary to clarify the respective tasks of IPGP (responsible for seismic monitoring in the West Indies) and CEA (responsible for issuing the tsunami warnings).
Once the system is up and running, CEA should be commissioned to carry out a feasibility study on extending its mission, for it to become the regional tsunami-warning centre for the Caribbean zone, in cooperation with Puerto Rico, PTWC and the ATWC.
In the medium term, we must study the possibility of setting up an automated warning system for local tsunamis in certain coastal zones which remain to be determined and, if need be, carry out an experimentation in partnership with the interested local governments.
Finally, during the last session of the ICG/Caribbean-TWS, it was observed that France has up until now focused its attention on Martinique and Guadeloupe, effectively ignoring French Guiana and Saint Martin. This situation should therefore be clarified by launching a study on these zone's tsunami vulnerability and, if need be, integrating them into the national tsunami warning strategy for the West Indies (installing sea-level measuring devices and seismic stations, defining a specialized emergency-assistance plan, raising public awareness, etc.).
c) In the Indian Ocean
Your rapporteur has already observed that €305,000 attributed to Météo France for the creation of a national tsunami warning centre in the Indian Ocean remain to be spent, due to the modification of the initial project. Therefore, this money must be recovered and redirected to the budget dedicated to setting up a coherent, perennial national warning system. A portion of this sum could also be directed to the installation of a tide gauge in Madagascar (initially planned but never carried out) and a second station in La Réunion.
Your rapporteur regrets that France has effectively ceased to participate in the ICG/IOTWS sessions and recommends that it once again become involved in the work of the ICG/Caribbean-TWS and the working groups that this body has formed.
Furthermore, your rapporteur would like to see the mission of the planned national tsunami warning centre extended to cover the French territories in the Indian Ocean.
In addition, once the system is up and running, CEA should be commissioned to carry out a feasibility study on extending its mission, for it to become the "regional tsunami-watch provider" for those countries of the western Indian Ocean, in cooperation with other "regional tsunami-watch providers".
* 79 According to the information obtained by your rapporteur, those in Fort-de-France and Pointe-à-Pitre are already equipped with the necessary outlets for real-time data transmission.