France sets up quake center

France sets up quake center

Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, The Jakarta Post, Padang

The French government plans to provide further aid in the form of
equipment and technical expertise to establish an earthquake and
tsunami crisis center in Padang, West Sumatra, expected to be
launched in May.

Coordinator of the West Sumatra Natural Disaster Mitigation
Agency's coordinating unit (Satkorlak), Armen Rauf, said in
Padang on Friday that the crisis center's task was to anticipate
the possible risks that might occur if an earthquake and tsunami
were to hit the west coast of the province originating from the
subduction zone in the Mentawai Islands.

"The crisis center that will be operated by the West Sumatra
Satkorlak, will later become the center for information,
observation and control," said Armen.

Armen explained that the French government would not provide
money directly, but technical facilities in the form of
communications equipment, such as an Early Warning System,
database resources, a call center, as well as the training of
personnel and operational funds for two years.

He could not yet determine the amount of assistance but said,
"It could reach billions of rupiah. We only need to provide the
place for the crisis center. They will provide the equipment and
operational funds for the first two years," said Armen.

Talks between the French and Indonesian governments have
entered the final phase. There will be a meeting soon between the
French ambassador and the West Sumatra governor to completely
finalize it.

Meanwhile, a staffer at the Padangpanjang Meteorology and
Geophysical Agency (BMG), Bayu Pranata, who is also a member of
the Satkorlak said that the crisis center would prioritize
earthquake and tsunami warnings, and would be aimed at minimizing
the number of victims in the event of another large tsunami.

"The foremost thing to be set up is the call center and a
hotline connecting the BMG and the Satkorlak," he said.

The call center go into action in case of a disaster, said
Armen, "it will be used for informing the public of the dangers
of an earthquake or tsunami along the western coast of Sumatra".

The subduction zone -- the section where an oceanic plate
descends below a continental plate -- along the west coast of
Sumatra, has the potential to trigger another huge quake and
tsunami.

A team consisting of experts from the National Institute of
Sciences (LIPI) and the California Technical Institute (Caltech)
has recorded that six segments in the subduction zone along
Sumatra have the possibility to create huge quakes. They are in
the Aceh-Andaman region, Simeuleu, Nias, the Batu Islands,
Siberut, Sipora-Pagai and Bengkulu.

Only two of the six segments, Siberut and Sipora-Pagai, have
not had substantial activity in recent years, however, that area
experienced a series of huge quakes over 150 years ago, according
to scientists.

Based on the report from the team, a quake once occurred in
the Siberut segment in the 17th century and the Sipora-Pagai
in 1797 and 1833 with a magnitude of an estimated 9.0 on a modern
day Richter.

Padang, a densely populated city on the coast of western
Sumatra, seems particularly vulnerable to a devastating quake or
tsunami.