PARIS, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Monday announced 24 countries bordering the Indian Ocean will take part in two tsunami warning exercises on Sept.4-5 to test their local systems and implemented mechanisms to cope with such disaster.
Promoting scientific exchanges and efforts to set up warning systems for various types of natural disasters, UNESCO, in cooperation with International Oceanographic Commission, had put two scenarios to simulate the countries being put in a tsunami warning situation, the UN body said in a press release.
The first test is scheduled for Tuesday with a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the coast of Iran. The second scenario of 9.3 earthquake will be applied on Wednesday off the west coast of Northern Sumatra, it said.
"These exercises will be an opportunity for the participating countries to test their operational procedures, the communication channels between the various actors involved as well as the population's readiness and the evacuation procedures, said the press release.
The countries, including South Africa, Comoros, India, Indonesia, Oman, Iran, Seychelles and Sri Lanka, are set to test local emergency and relief services, conducting evacuation exercises in selected coastal communities and schools, it added.
