CTBTO Preparatory Commission
recommends use of data
by tsunami warning organizations

The working group on verification issues of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, Working Group B, concluded its twenty-seventh session on 8 September 2006. It discussed preparations for the Commission?s planned On-Site Inspection Integrated Field Exercise in 2008 and agreed on a test manual for that exercise, and, in the context of data and products for emergency response, the contribution of the Commission to tsunami warning. An important outcome of this discussion was the adoption by Working Group B of a recommendation on the long-term provision of data to requesting tsunami warning organizations. The recommendation, to be confirmed by the Commission?s plenary session in November, foresees the provision of real time and continuous data from primary seismic, auxiliary seismic and hydroacoustic stations in the verification system currently being built up by the Commission. The recommendation follows on a March 2005 decision of the Commission adopted in the aftermath of the devastating 26 December 2004 tsunami to explore and initially assess which data might be useful and could be provided by the Commission for tsunami warning. Organizations receiving data during this testing phase confirmed that the use of Commission data increases their ability to identify earthquakes, which could potentially generate tsunamis, and to give more rapid warnings. The CTBT bans any nuclear weapons test explosion or any other nuclear explosion. Drafted at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva and adopted by the General Assembly on 10 September 1996, the Treaty was opened for signature on 24 September 1996 at the United Nations headquarters in New York. 176 States have so far signed the Treaty and 135 have ratified it. To enter into force, the CTBT must be signed and ratified by the 44 States listed in Annex 2 to the Treaty. These States formally participated in the work of the 1996 session of the Conference on Disarmament and possessed nuclear power or research reactors at that time. To date, 34 of the Annex 2 States have ratified the Treaty.

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