Maltese schoolchildren will learn how to deal with a tsunami as part of a project being drawn up for three primary schools.
The aim is to make young pupils aware of the phenomenon, as Malta tries to prepare for such an event, unlikely as it may be.
“Children are more receptive to information. We have to see how they can then disseminate this information to their parents,” Civil Protection Department director Patrick Murgo said.
The three schools earmarked for the project are the primaries of St Paul’s Bay, Marsascala and Marsaxlokk.
“In May, we also hope to bring over, 18-year-old Tilly Smith who, in the 2004 Thailand tsunami, saved hundreds of tourists after she remembered details from a geography lesson two weeks earlier. She will meet the children and recount her experience,” he said.
Mr Murgo added that it would take some time to draw up a detailed plan for Malta.
“The first thing we have to do is instill a safety culture in the population. People don’t believe that such disasters can happen to them.”
The tsunami scenario was being considered by the emergency services in recent weeks when Malta took part in an exercise that looked into a scenario in which the islands were being hit by one-metre high waves following a strong earthquake off Algeria.
Countries from the North East Atlantic and the Mediterranean participated, with the main alert system in France disseminating information to countries in the exercise.
Mr Murgo explained that a tsunami was a “long probability event with a high impact on society”. He said historically there had been a couple of tsunamis recorded in the Mediterranean, with the most recent in May 2003.
After a quake near the coast of Algeria, a tsunami destroyed more than 100 boats in Majorca and flooded Palma’s Paseo Maritimo.
However, tsunamialertsystem .com says that, on average, one disastrous tsunami takes place in the region every century.
Mr Murgo said that it was difficult to determine the wave height of a tsunami because it depended on the type of tectonic plate movements. “Malta does not have the capability of measuring wave height and has to rely on others.”
This is where simulation exercises come in handy. In the event of a possible tsunami, the CPD would immediately alert the Home Affairs Minister and the other emergency service providers.
“We also plan to issue a warning straight away because the public has to be aware of the risk. This may cause some panic.
“However, that is why we are coming up with this tsunami emergency plan. We took this opportunity to discuss our action plan with all concerned parties.
“We are also running a programme to find the best early alert system for the public. At the moment we are experimenting with technology on mobiles and are creating an intelligent app for mobile phones with the University of Malta,” Mr Murgo explained.