Govt awakens to deadly death toll

NEW DELHI: With the Tsunami death toll touching 68,000 in Asia, with more than 12,000 dead in India, the Indian government is being driven to set up warning generation information systems.

The government has decided to install 'Sea Floor Pressure Recording System', an equipment, which can send warnings about tsunamis. It is likely to be set up in the Indian Ocean very soon.

India is also joining a network of 26 countries, which will warn each other of changes in sea pressure and possibilities of tsunami waves, as has already been announced by Minister of State for Science and Technology, Kapil Sibal.

The new system would be linked to the existing devices called data buoys, which record sea surface parameters and any disturbance in water pressure would be recorded and sent to satellites. The pressure recording system, which will have to be imported from the US, would also strengthen the country's cyclone warning system considering the fact that 25 percent of the world's cyclones are recorded in the Bay of Bengal.

"The international warning system in the Pacific constantly monitors for signs that are generated by an underwater earthquake. This time-critical information is then sent with the help of electromagnetic waves to the control room and warnings are produced by analyzing this information continuously. A warning time-period of about two hours is more than enough to evacuate areas likely to be affected the most," Government of India Department of Ocean Development joint secretary Dr Suraj Prakash Seth informed.

"If the location and magnitude of an earthquake meets the known criteria for the generation of a tsunami, a tsunami warning is issued to warn of an imminent tsunami hazard. The warning includes predicted tsunami arrival times at selected coastal communities within the geographic area defined by the maximum distance the tsunami could travel in a few hours. A tsunami watch with additional predicted tsunami arrival times is issued for a geographic area defined by the distance the tsunami could travel in a subsequent time period," he further explained.

This effort encourages the most effective data collection, data analysis, tsunami impact assessment and warning dissemination to all Tsunami Warning Center (TWS) participants. As a tsunami traverses the ocean, a network of sensitive recorders on the sea floor measures pressure changes in the overhead water, sending the information to sensors on buoys, which, in turn, relay the data to satellites for immediate transmission to warning centers.

Indian scientists are in the process of conducting a nationwide project to map the Indian coastline using remote sensing data and satellite images. This exercise will help in mapping the tsunami prone region.

These maps, as well as offshore detection systems, public education, and evacuation planning, are part of the strategy to save lives and reduce loss from tsunamis.