RI concerned about cost of tsunami warning system<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
An official has questioned whether the government can afford to
\noperate and maintain the planned Indian Ocean Tsunami Early
\nWarning System (TEWS).<\/p>\n
The director of the Geophysics Data and Information Center at
\nthe Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG), Prih Hajardi, said
\nthe operation and maintenance costs could be as high as
\nUS$300,000 per month for each deep-sea tsunami assessment and
\nreporting (DART) system.<\/p>\n
"The operational and maintenance costs will be quite high
\nbecause we need to check and clean the system on a weekly and
\nmonthly basis. Regular maintenance is important because the
\nregional and national transmission of tsunami monitoring requires
\nsatellites," he said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Prih said that in the Indian Ocean alone, at least 10 DART
\nbuoys were necessary for accurate and fast warnings.<\/p>\n
The Indian Ocean tsunami on Dec. 26 that killed hundreds of
\nthousands of people led to calls to set up a tsunami early
\nwarning system in the region. Indonesia's Aceh province was the
\nhardest-hit region by the tsunami.<\/p>\n
Germany earlier this week agreed to provide 45 million euros
\n($85.85 million) worth of equipment for the development of a TEWS
\nin Indonesia for monitoring, assessments and the online and real-
\ntime transmission of data through a satellite system.<\/p>\n
Visiting German education and research minister Edelgard
\nBulmahn said that under a bilateral agreement, Germany would
\nprovide the TEWS technology, while Indonesia would be responsible
\nfor operating and maintaining the system.<\/p>\n
The TEWS components consist of 10 global positioning system
\n(GPS)-based buoys, 25 seismographs, 10 GPS stations, 10 GPS tide
\ngauges and 20 ocean bottom pressure sensors for the DART system.<\/p>\n
A source said the operational and maintenance costs for the
\nwhole TEWS system could run as high as $60 million a year. The
\nsource added that a proposal for the operational and maintenance
\nbudget had been submitted to the National Development Planning
\nBoard.<\/p>\n
Prih said the installation of the TEWS would require the BMG
\nto upgrade its system.<\/p>\n
"We will upgrade the current analog system to provide help and
\nto back up data. The old equipment will need to be 'retired'
\nbecause we need a digital system for the TEWS."<\/p>\n
He said the BMG was currently preparing to implement the TEWS.
\n"We are currently determining seismograph locations and planning
\nto set up the telecommunications system for data gathering and
\ndispatch from the BMG to regional and national meteorology and
\ngeophysics agencies, which requires a Very Small Aperture
\nTerminal, or VSAT, to enable broadband speed Internet service
\nthrough satellite."<\/p>\n
The TEWS components will likely be located around North
\nSumatra, along the south-coast of East Nusa Tenggara, around the
\nBanda Sea in Maluku, and in North and Central Sulawesi, according
\nto Prih. (005)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ri-concerned-about-cost-of-tsunami-warning-system-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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