The Hindu : National : Tsunami warning centre likely in Hyderabad

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 23, 2005

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National

Tsunami warning centre likely in Hyderabad

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JAN. 22. A tsunami warning centre, proposed to be set up by the Centre, is likely to come up in Hyderabad on the campus of the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services. It is expected to become operational by September 2007, with the key elements put in place by March 2006. It is estimated to cost Rs.125 crores.

The Union Science and Technology Minister, Kapil Sibal, told presspersons at the end of a two-day brainstorming session organised by the Centre and attended by experts from within and outside the country, that it would be in the nature of a multi-disaster warning system, addressing issues like fine-tuning of the forecast for storm surges caused by cyclones and preparation of seawater inundation and vulnerability maps for coastal areas. The establishment of the system would involve deployment of a comprehensive real time ocean observation network comprising sea bottom pressure recorders around the two well-known zones of the Indian Ocean region, which are capable of producing tsunamis: the Java-Sumatra region in the eastern part of the Indian Ocean, and Makaran region in the northern edge of the Arabian Sea. In addition, it is envisaged to upgrade the network of seismic stations within the country to provide for near real time determination of the various parameters of earthquakes occurring in the two zones.

Mr. Sibal said the warning system would be set up by India all by itself. "India could enter into agreements with other countries in the region for sharing of information and also work in collaboration with the UN and other international agencies. But, there was no question of setting up a centre under an international regional consortium''.

The system would be developed as a coordinated effort involving the Department of Science and Technology, the Department of Ocean Development, CSIR and several academic institutions, including IIT Kharagpur and IIT Delhi.

Earlier, speaking to The Hindu , Secretary, Department of Ocean Development, Harsh K. Gupta, said already a significant portion of data required in the form of topographical recordings of the coastal areas and bathymetric readings of the seas around the country were available and the first set of numerical models for predicting tsunamis could be ready on a pilot scale in about six months.

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