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| International-UN-NGOs |
| Indian Ocean nations upgrading tsunami alert systems fast |
| 2005-12-15 |
| HYDERABAD, India - Indian Ocean nations are rapidly upgrading tsunami detection systems and plan to put in place a deep-sea sensor network so those at risk can be warned faster, a UN conference heard on Wednesday. Twenty-three nations in the Indian Ocean rim will have a âmodernâ tsunami detection network by June 2006, said Patricio Bernal, a top official at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). Bernal, who is UNESCO assistant director general, was speaking at the UNâs Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission meeting in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad to discuss progress towards setting up a proper warning system. âThe programme entails enabling (data receiving) stations in these nations to be upgraded and be able to broadcast in real time,â Bernal said on the sidelines of the three-day conference that opened on Wednesday. âDuring tsunamis the first casualty is power. So solar panels need to be used to broadcast data to a satellite. All the nations are changing their systems to record on real time,â he added. While âthe focus is now on upgrading existing seismographic and sea-level networks,â he said the UN group was also planning to have a deep-sea sensor network in the Indian Ocean by 2010. âTwo deep-sea sensors have already been deployed in Sumatra off Indonesia with the help of German cooperation. Weâre planning to deploy them in the Bay of Bengal, Pakistan, Western India and Iran as well,â he said. Bernal said upgrading existing detection networks and installing deep-sea sensors would cost a total of 200 million dollars. âThe real problem is not the cost alone. The nations will have to maintain them 24 hours, 365 days a year and you need specialists. That cost needs to be factored in,â he said. India, which has set up an interim tsunami warning centre, said it would launch a full-fledged centre by September 2007. âAll the systems such as pressure recorders, buoys, tide gauges, radars and mapping of coastal areas vulnerable to inundation will be ready by then,â V. Sampath, director of the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, said. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #2 When you go from zero systems to one or more systems, we are talking serious percentage increases. I mean......big time percentage increases. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2005-12-15 22:53 |
| #1 Indian Ocean nations are rapidly upgrading tsunami detection systems and plan to put in place a deep-sea sensor network so those at risk can be warned faster, a UN conference heard on Wednesday. "Upgrading"? Wait, I thought they never had one to start off with.... |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-12-15 01:08 |