Overview
ISO 22328-3:2023 - "Security and resilience - Emergency management - Part 3: Guidelines for the implementation of a community-based early warning system for tsunamis" provides practical guidance for implementing people-centred, community-based tsunami early warning systems (EWS). It complements the generic EWS guidance in ISO 22328-1 and focuses on tsunami-specific methods, procedures and activities for communities vulnerable to tsunami hazards (secondary/indirect effects are not covered).
Keywords: ISO 22328-3, tsunami early warning system, community-based EWS, tsunami preparedness, emergency management.
Key topics and technical requirements
The standard addresses the full community-level EWS lifecycle with specific technical and organizational elements:
-
Risk assessment and planning
- Identify tsunami sources, historical events and potential recurrence.
- Produce and update tsunami hazard and inundation maps (publicly accessible).
- Assess community vulnerability (physical, social, economic, cultural) and integrate results into a tsunami risk reduction plan.
-
Monitoring and warning service
- Monitoring capabilities should include seismic detection and onshore water-surface monitoring with real‑time data transfer to national/regional authorities.
- Warning dissemination follows staged bulletins (Bulletin‑1 through Bulletin‑4) that progressively update threat level, estimated time of arrival (ETA), observed arrivals and all-clear messages.
- Consideration for exceptional cases (near-field sources, non‑seismic triggers) where warnings or natural warnings may be immediate or difficult to predict.
-
Dissemination, communication and public education
- Develop public displays (hazard maps, evacuation routes, shelters) and customized education materials describing natural warnings and self‑evacuation actions.
- Implement outreach campaigns, school programs, community workshops and targeted door‑to‑door efforts.
-
Response capability and community participation
- Build local preparedness teams, evacuation procedures and standard operating procedures (SOPs).
- Emphasize community engagement and local ownership for sustainability.
-
Governance and sustainability
- Coordinate national/regional monitoring with local preparedness and ensure commitment from authorities and communities.
Practical applications - who uses it
ISO 22328-3 is valuable for:
- Local and municipal emergency managers and disaster preparedness teams
- National/regional authorities coordinating tsunami monitoring and warnings
- Coastal planners, urban designers and infrastructure agencies
- NGOs, community organizations and schools involved in public education
- Telecommunications and public alert providers integrating warning delivery
- Humanitarian responders and resilience practitioners designing community-based preparedness
Practical outcomes include improved evacuation planning, clearer public messaging, faster community response, and harmonized national-to-local warning workflows.
Related standards
- ISO 22328-1 (generic community-based EWS guidance)
- ISO 22322 (public warning guidelines)
- ISO 22315 (mass evacuation planning)
- ISO 22300 (vocabulary)
- UNESCO‑IOC Tsunami Ready program (complementary, evidence-based community preparedness)
Adopting ISO 22328-3 supports resilient, people-centred tsunami preparedness by linking technical monitoring and national warnings with actionable local plans and community engagement.
