Speaker
Description
TONGA - FIJI SEISMIC NETWORK INTRODUCTION. By Rennie Vaiomounga, Geologist, Ministry of Lands, Environment, Climate Change & Natural Resources. Tonga is located at the easternmost edge of the Australian plate and formed oceanic island arc in response to subduction of Pacific Plate beneath the Australian Plate. That cause high Seismic activities. WORK HAVE BEEN DONE Due to active seismic activities the Japanese Government funded 5 seismic stations to record earthquakes in the regions. After completion the installation, accuracy of data analysis wasn't accurate due to station distributions. Japan extended the project to install 6 more seismic stations in Fiji to share the real time data and data analysis be more accurate. These stations transmitted data from stations to central hub through satellites. CHALLENGES Funding is the main problem we faced. For Tonga Fiji seismic network, each country funded the maintenance of their stations. Also lack of training staff in this field. WAY FORWARD Pacific Islands are high risk in earthquakes and tsunamis. Its better create Regional Seismic Network around the Pacific. Vanuatu and New Caledonia already have network and we better work to extend the network to other Islands to assist reducing the risk of the disaster.
