Tsunami-hit countries agree on early warning system at emergency summit

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In the wake of a massive tidal wave that killed more than 150,000 people in Asia, countries bordering the Indian Ocean agreed on Tuesday to a proposal for the setting up of an early warning system to help prevent similar tragic losses from reoccurring.

Countries participating in the summit on humanitarian and reconstruction efforts in the aftermath of the Dec. 26 tsunamis said in a joint statement that the early warning system was of great importance to detect and warn of tsunamis before they strike.

"The regional early warning system will be similar to the regional early warning system in the Pacific Ocean," the statement said.

The Tsunami Warning System (TWS) in the Pacific, comprising 26 participating countries, has the function of monitoring seismological and tidal stations throughout the Pacific Basin. It evaluates whether an earthquake has the potential to create a tsunami and disseminates a tsunami warning.

The centers in Hawaii and Alaska detected the massive earthquake off Sumatra island minutes after it happened on that fateful Sunday morning and issued information bulletins to member nations in the Pacific, but not to countries directly in the tsunami's path.

The system, initiated by the U.S. government, however, is meticulous and largely expensive for countries in the Indian Ocean region, comprised mostly of developing countries. A system of seven detectors, run from Hawaii, cost about US$18 million to develop.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said that countries like Japan, South Korea and China had agreed to help tsunami-affected countries develop a system.

Susilo said the system not only constituted equipment to detect tsunamis but also touched on education for people living along the coast, coordination and information sharing among countries bordering the Indian Ocean.

Thai foreign minister said that such a system could have saved many lives if it had been installed in quake-prone regions.

"We had no functioning, real-time, early warning system on tsunamis ... Many deaths could have been avoided if people had been warned," he said.