UNESCO has advised Malta to prepare for a tsunami within the next 30 years, with at least one of its coastal cities having tsunami measures in place by the end of 2023.

The probability of a tsunami occurring in the next three decades is “100%,” according to UNESCO, pushing coastal communities in the Mediterranean Sea at risk of becoming “tsunami-ready.”

Tsunami in Malta

(Photo: STR / JIJI PRESS / AFP via Getty Images)

There is no doubt about this in the Mediterranean: not if, but when, according to Denis Chang Seng, a program expert for the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Northeast Tsunami Early Warning and Mitigation System of the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and related waters, as per Lovin Malta.

The hazard statement issued by UNESCO refers to one-meter waves in the Mediterranean area. They can move and pull cars off the ground, while smaller ones can create water barriers of 65km / h.

Calculating the impact of an impending tsunami on the island would require socio-economic data and knowledge of asset values, according to Chang Seng.

However, if Malta is hit by a tsunami, the damage will be severe due to the large number of expensive boats and vessels.

The risk “has already materialized and is not just numbers and theory,” Seng added, as evidenced by the “major” tsunamis that have already occurred in Greece and Turkey in 2017 and 2020.

A tsunami does not have to wait 30 years. Chang Seng told the Times of Malta that it could happen at any time, including tomorrow, although the dangers in terms of percentage will decrease.

He was approached after a recent piece of the Guardian identified Marseille, Alexandria, Istanbul, Cannes, and Chipiona on the Atlantic coast of Spain as vulnerable and urging a tsunami in the Mediterranean.

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Risk in Malta

However, Bernardo Aliaga, the senior tsunami specialist for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, acknowledged that Malta, located in the heart of the Mediterranean, is also at risk and that efforts are under way. to limit the damage.

CoastWAVE, a 30-month EU-funded Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission project, will see Malta join six other Mediterranean nations whose locations will be recognized as tsunami-ready, culminating in a tsunami. in the installation of a permanent tsunami warning system.

According to seismologist Pauline Galea of ​​the Department of Geosciences of the University of Malta, UNESCO and its local partners, the University of Malta and the Department of Civil Protection (CPD), are preparing to launch activities leading to a national tsunami-ready plan.

Malta does not yet have a national tsunami warning center, so the university is filling this need.

However, Chang Seng warned that the government would consider establishing the correct framework to collect tsunami information from service providers in Italy, Greece or Turkey and provide scientific recommendations for the CPD to then determine whether action takes.

The UNESCO-funded initiative, building on a previous Last Mile effort, trains selected Mediterranean villages to be ready for the possibility, according to IOC rules.

Marsaxlokk, which was selected as a case study, was on track to become Malta’s first ‘tsunami ready’ area by meeting 12 parameters, including preparedness and response to danger.

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