Saturday 03 / May / 2025
Muscat: The Public Authority for Civil Aviation (PACA) has put out an awareness message for citizens and residents in Oman before the tsunami evacuation drill in Sawadi takes place on September 4, 2018.
“There are two main sources of tsunamis that could affect the Sultanate. One lies in the Indonesian subduction zone, Sumatra, and the other in the Makran subduction zone in the Sea of Oman,” said an official from PACA.
“With Sumatra being far from Oman, there is plenty of time to prepare for a calamity that could occur from that zone.
“However, the main source of threat is located in the Makran area. It forms a border area, where the sides of the rock layers intersect with active tectonic plates that gradually descend northwards under the coasts of Iran and Pakistan,” the official added. “An earthquake of more than 7 on the Richter scale inside the belt of the Makran subduction zone can generate tsunamis along most of the coasts in northern Oman, south-eastern Iran, Pakistan and northwestern India,” the official explained.
He added that although rare, it is considered the most dangerous in potentially generating a local tsunami.
In 1945 an earthquake that occurred in the Makran belt led to a 40-foot tsunami on the Pakistani coast, also affecting the area between Sur and Muscat.
“There was no loss of life but people who witnessed the tsunami in 1945 felt a great impact and still talk about it.
"Therefore, in this regard, PACA is holding a community evacuation drill to prepare people for any unforeseen disaster,” the official told Times of Oman.
