Tsunami warning system to begin operations this month
New Delhi, Sept. 7(AP): A new Indian tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean has been completed, a government minister said on Friday.
``The government is setting up a national early warning system for tsunami and storm surges in the Indian Ocean and the system is scheduled to be operational by the end of September,'' Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal told India's Parliament. He did not provide details.
Last year, Sibal said the alert system for tsunami and cyclones would give people who live along the coast at least a 20-minute warning before waves strike.
He also said a national cyclone risk reduction project has been drawn up to address cyclone hazards in 13 cyclone-prone coastal states. The cyclone warnings are being provided by the India Meteorological Department.
Sibal's statement was released by the government-run Press Information Bureau.
Last year, the government launched a disaster warning system which can inform people about any disaster in their local languages over mobile phones and on specially set up wireless public address systems in less than a minute.
A massive earthquake off Indonesia's Sumatra island in December 2004 triggered a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people and left a half million homeless in a dozen countries. An estimated 10,700 were killed in India.
