BPPT to propose applying 'Seawatch' tsunami alert
BPPT to propose applying 'Seawatch' tsunami alert
Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
As part of a region-wide tsunami early warning system to be
discussed during a one-day summit here on Thursday, the
government will suggest the use of the "Seawatch" system to alert
residents of tidal waves.
The Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology
(BPPT), which has been appointed by the government to offer
suggestions during the summit, said Indonesia had previously
operated such a system for other purposes, but operation stalled
following the financial crisis in the late 1990s.
"With assistance from Norway, we started using the system in
1996 to observe ocean pollution and navigation safety. But we
stopped operations in 2000 due to cash constraints," Tusy
Adibroto, the deputy for information, energy, material and
environmental technology with the agency, told The Jakarta Post
on Tuesday.
A Seawatch system uses buoys that are equipped with a variety
of sensors that record oceanographic movements and changes. The
buoys transmit data to satellites at designated times.
Tusy said such a system had been used by countries like India,
Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam.
"As far as I remember, Vietnam uses it for tsunami alerts.
However, the current buoys that we have must be upgraded by
adding more kinds of sensors to enable them to detect tsunami. We
must also increase the number of buoys to between 65 and 70 from
our current number of 12," she said.
Tusy added that the Seawatch system must be complemented with
seismographic data from other agencies to create a coordinated
mitigation center for natural disasters like tsunami and large-
scale earthquakes.
Thursday's summit was initiated by the Indonesian government
after a massive 9.0-magnitude quake originating off the western
coast of Sumatra caused a tsunami that leveled vast coastal areas
on the country's northern tip last week, claiming tens of
thousands of lives. Experts have claimed that the absence of a
warning system contributed to the massive losses suffered by
countries bordering the Indian Ocean. By contrast, countries in
the Pacific Ocean have already set up regional warning systems.
A number of world leaders, including United Nations Secretary-
General Kofi Annan, United States Secretary of State Colin Powell
and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, have confirmed
their attendance.
Tusy also said that besides cooperation with other countries,
such a system would also require coordinated information links
between areas to accelerate dissemination of data.
Chief scientist at Geoscience Australia, Phil McFadden, said a
tsunami warning system could be built in the Indian Ocean area in
just one year and cost about US$20 million.
He said a system for the Indian Ocean basin would include 30
seismographs to detect earthquakes. Ten tidal gauges and six
special Deep Ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART)
buoys would also be needed determine whether an earthquake has
generated a tsunami.
McFadden estimated that each DART buoy would cost about
$250,000, plus annual maintenance costs of up to $50,000.
However, vastly improved communications links to coastal
communities were essential to make the system work considering
that the coastal villages that bore the brunt of last week's
tidal waves lacked modern communication networks, even
telephones.
"There's no point in spending all this money on fancy
monitoring and analysis system unless we can make certain that
the infrastructure for the broadcast system is there," McFadden
was quoted as saying by Associated Press.