UNESCO devises strategy for tsunami warning system<\/p>\n
Agence France-Press, Port Louis<\/p>\n
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
\nOrganization (UNESCO) said on Tuesday it was ready to lead
\nefforts to set up a global early warning system that could avert
\nanother tragedy on the scale of the Asian tsunami disaster.<\/p>\n
\"Any such system goes far beyond the installation of seismic
\nequipment to measure and pinpoint earthquakes,\" said UNESCO chief
\nKoichiro Matsuura in a statement issued here on the sidelines of
\na UN conference on small islands.<\/p>\n
Experts at monitoring institutes in Hawaii and Vienna knew
\nimmediately that an earthquake had taken place off the coast of
\nSumatra on Dec. 26, unleashing tidal waves the left more than
\n156,000 dead.<\/p>\n
But no warning system was in place to relay the information to
\nIndian Ocean countries and allow them to take measure to protect
\ntheir citizens.<\/p>\n
While the technology to detect earthquakes is available, \"what
\nis missing is the communications networks, public awareness and
\nnational disaster planning that are essential to alert
\npopulations quickly,\" said UNESCO Director-General Matsuura.<\/p>\n
These components are key to educating people about how to help
\nthemselves, rapid evacuations of threatened areas and assisting
\nthose wounded or displaced by disasters, he noted.<\/p>\n
UNESCO helped set up the existing tsunami early warning system
\nfor the Pacific in 1968 and maintains that such alert mechanisms
\nshould be in place for the Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, Caribbean
\nand South West Pacific.<\/p>\n
Matsuura's comments came as delegates from 110 countries
\nattend the small island's conference in Mauritius this week that
\nis focusing on the plight of the countries most vulnerable to
\nnatural disasters.<\/p>\n
Setting up a global warning system will also be the focus of a
\nconference in Kobe, Japan next week.<\/p>\n
Leading expert Laura Kong from the Hawaii-based International
\nTsunami Information Center said scientists, working with
\ngovernments and international agencies, were looking at the
\nstations and networks in place to see what might be needed to set
\nup a global system.<\/p>\n
She said some 10 to 20 deep-water ocean buoys, costing about
\nUS$250,000 each, would probably be needed to monitor water levels
\nin places where no stations can be built.<\/p>\n
Between 50 to 100 water-level stations, at a cost of $30,000
\neach, would have to be set up as part of the global system, she
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"The cost will be negligible compared to the benefit we will
\nget,\" said Michel Jarraud, secretary general of the World
\nMeteorological Organization.<\/p>\n
\"This will be a very effective way to prevent loss of life in
\nthe first place and also to minimize the economic damage,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/unesco-devises-strategy-for-tsunami-warning-system-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}