Asian nations gather in China for tsunami warning system
Asian nations gather in China for tsunami warning system
Agence France-Presse, Beijing
Asian nations began two days of talks on Tuesday in Beijing on
setting up an early warning system for tsunamis to prevent a
repeat of last month's disaster, believed to have claimed more
than 280,000 lives.
Representatives from the 10-member Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN), China, Japan and other countries focused
on ways to coordinate efforts among governments in the region to
be better braced in the future.
"This is an imperative given the scientific fact that our part
of the world is so vulnerable to earthquake-generated tsunami
waves," said Foster Gultom, a ranking member of the Indonesian
delegation.
The number of people presumed dead in last month's Asian
tsunamis rose to more than 280,000 on Tuesday, with Indonesian
authorities announcing a further increase in the number of dead
and missing.
As the delegates observed one minute of silence to remember
the victims, some of them pondered how many lives might have been
saved if an early warning system had already been in place.
"Last month, if we had been better prepared, the loss would
have been much smaller," Sitaheng Rasphone, Lao vice minister of
agriculture, told AFP.
Waves from earthquake-generated tsunamis can travel at speeds
exceeding those of a jet airplane, making an early warning system
all the more important, delegates said.
"Tsunamis move at speeds of to 640 to 960 kilometers an hour,"
said U Pe Than, Myanmar vice minister of transport. "It's
essential to have an early warning system."
The Beijing meeting follows a series of recent gatherings
triggered by the tsunami, including a major meeting in Japan last
week, but delegates said they still considered the latest session
would prove useful.
"China has long experience on how to detect earthquakes, and
also China is one of ASEAN's dialogue partners," said Rasphone of
Laos. "China is playing its dialog partner role."
Talks started on an optimistic note, based on the speedy
response to December's tsunami.
"The sheer scale, speed and global reach of this catastrophe
was unprecedented and still difficult to comprehend," said Terje
Skavdal, a UN advisor. "The response we have seen is also
unprecedented, as it had to be."
Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu called it the fourth great
example of regional cooperation after the late-1990s Asian
financial crisis, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
crisis and the outbreak of bird flu.