Development of a tsunami early warning system on the coast of Palu based on maritime wireless communication

Abstract

Indonesia, located in the “Ring of Fire” zone, is a tsunami-prone area, especially those earthquake-induced. Therefore, a tsunami early warning system is crucial for reducing potential damage. Ina-TEWS is an Indonesian tsunami early warning system that relies on buoys, uses seismic sensors to detect a tsunami, sends out its warning within 5 min. Ina-TEWS requires maintenance and supervision, especially since 22 buoys were declared lost or damaged in 2012–2018. Therefore, Indonesia needs a faster and more reliable backup early warning system. This study proposes a new method by integrating maritime wireless communication between ships on the open sea and ship-to-coastal radio stations in the Palu Port. The ships used are passenger ships equipped with VHF radio communication which is the main working frequency for signal propagation. Numerical modeling of tsunamis was carried out using Delft3D and Delft Dashboard, using earthquake and fault parameters from PUSGEN. The output of this study is the required VHF signal propagation times for each tsunami scenario less than 1 min. Standard operating procedure (SOP) has also been developed based on the worst scenario. The development of this system is expected to enhance tsunami mitigation systems in Indonesia by replacing the buoys in the future.