Central America lies between two oceans: Pacific and Atlantic through the Caribbean Sea. Although it has no records of great earthquakes (~8.0 to 9.0) resulting on tsunami threat, a tsunami catalogue for Central America counts more than 50 entries based on historical references. Tsunamis caused damage and casualties in 1882 off the Caribbean coast of Panama, in 1991 in Costa Rica and Panama and in 1992 in the Pacific coast of Nicaragua. Coastal population has largely increased in recent decades, along with the tourism, increasing the exposure to tsunami. Central America tsunami preparedness is improving: some of the Central American countries have a National Tsunami Warning System, a Regional Tsunami Advisory Center (CATAC, at INETER in Nicaragua) is under development, deployment of tidal gauges is improving and the region was chosen for the pilot course on Tsunami Evacuation Maps, Plans and Procedures by the Pacific Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (PTWS). The aim of this meeting is the identification of credible sources of tsunamis that could significantly impact the Pacific and Caribbean Coasts of Central America that can be used for tsunami modelling, evacuation mapping, planning and exercises. The outcomes of this meeting will be a key input to the project "Building resilient communities and integrated Early Warning Systems for tsunamis and other ocean related hazards in Central America" funded by the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO.

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