Pacific islands prepare for the PacWAVE26 tsunami drill with volcano-caused waves

3 November 2026

Pacific Island countries and territories are getting ready for a regional tsunami exercise called PacWAVE26.
It is set for the night of 4-5 November 2026: the drill opens at 23:00 UTC and closes four hours later, at 03:00 UTC.
The exercise is being prepared by the working group on the Pacific islands of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, with help from its task team on information sharing.
The scenarios chosen are tsunamis set off by volcanic activity in the south-west Pacific, a cause that is harder to detect than an undersea earthquake.
National tsunami warning centres, national disaster management offices, weather and geohazard agencies and emergency services are the main participants.
The drill tests how quickly information passes between a warning centre and a disaster office, and how national procedures hold up.
The task team is also examining messaging apps, high-frequency radio and email lists as backup channels when ordinary links fail.
Two preparatory sessions were held in late October and early November.