30-nation tsunami exercise a dry run for asteroid hitting earth?

Doomsday conspiracy theorists are suggesting that the 30-nation (including the Philippines) tsunami exercise on November 9 is actually a preparation for a “deep impact" scenario of an asteroid crashing into Earth. On video-sharing site YouTube, firehawk71 posted a video with a note that warned, “Asteroid YU55 close approach (closer than the moon) on November 8-9th!! Plus, Earth will be passing through debris from Comet Elenin’s tail around the same time. Are they prepping for something catastrophic?" However, a scientist working with the United States of America’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) earlier said: “There is no chance that this object will collide with the Earth or moon." From November 9 to 10, some 30 Pacific Rim countries, including the will take part in a tsunami warning exercise called "PacWave11." The exercise was organized under the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). According to UNESCO, the test is meant to help governmental authorities in the countries involved prepare for major tsunami events.

In the first phase, the exercise will consist of ten different scenarios to allow each participating country to respond to a regional or local tsunami following a powerful earthquake off the shores of Russia, Ryukyu Islands, west and east of the Philippines, Vanuatu, Tonga, Chile, Ecuador, Central America, and Aleutian Islands. The countries that will take part in the test will choose one of these scenarios and opt for a regional or local event to which they would have to react. During a second phase, implemented simultaneously after receipt of warning messages, the authorities of the countries involved will test all the necessary steps to respond to a warning prior to alerting the public. Simulated warnings will be sent by the Northwest Pacific Tsunami Advisory Centre (Japan), the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (USA), and West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center (USA). They will be addressed to the focal points of each country called upon to respond to a tsunami warning. The exercise is expected to improve countries’ ability to respond to an alert and improve regional coordination in the event of a tsunami. Past exercises for Pacific Tsunami Warning Systems The IOC established an International Coordination Group for the Tsunami Warning System in the Pacific in 1965, following the major tsunami of 1960 that hit the coast of Chile and claimed close to 5,000 human lives. The purpose of the Group is to coordinate the ongoing development and enhancement of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Systems (PTWS) and to promote the establishment of national risk assessments, alert and response programmes. Most of the world’s earthquakes and tsunamis occur in the Pacific Ocean and its marginal seas, the three most recent ones having struck Samoa (2009), Chile (2010) and Japan (2011). On average, the Pacific is struck by a locally damaging tsunami every year or two, and by a major Pacific-wide tsunami a few times each century. The Pacific-wide tsunami exercises are an effective tool for evaluating the readiness of the PTWS and to identify changes that can improve its effectiveness. The first “Exercise Pacific Wave 06" using Philippines and Chile tsunami sources was carried out on May 16-17, 2006. The second exercise “Exercise Pacific Wave 08" using a northeast Japan source was carried out from Oct. 28-30, 2008. - VVP, GMA News