The first ASTARTE annual meeting took place in Siracusa, Italy, between 16^th and 18^th October 2014.

Work package leaders, researchers from partner institutions and test-site responsible got together to analyse the progress made during the first year of the project and organize the work ahead.

Christa Von Hillebrandt-Andrade, Hitomi Murakami and Émile Okal, members of the External Advisory Board, participated in the meeting and each made a presentation regarding their field of work. Vasily Titov, from NOAA/PMEL also made a presentation on operational forecast performance.

Other guests attended the meeting, including members of the Italian and Sicilian civil protection services, end-users of the project, and also from UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.

The meeting included a field trip organized by Paolo Marco de Martini (INGV) to the vicinities of Siracusa, which included tsunami evidences in situ.