Faulty equipment, poor communications and cumbersome bureaucracy were blamed today for the failure of nations around the Indian Ocean’s rim to warn of one of the world’s most devastating natural disasters.

INDIA is to install an early warning system to predict lethal tsunamis such as the one that claimed tens of thousands of lives in Asia this week.

Thailand’s Meteorological Department may have delayed sounding a tidal wave warning for fear it could damage the country’s lucrative tourism industry, officials indicated today.

Asian officials conceded today that they failed to issue broad public warnings immediately after a massive undersea earthquake in Indonesia, which could have saved countless lives from the subsequent giant waves that smashed into nine countries.