India to install tsunami warning system

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.

Of the 12 countries affected by the killer waves, only Thailand belongs to an existing system working among the Pacific-Rim countries.

Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said India’s system would be independent of the Pacific-Rim programme, since that one does not monitor the Indian Ocean.

Mr Sibal said it would take two to two-and-a-half years to put the system in place and likely will cost up to €20 million.

India had no clue that it was about to be hit by Sunday’s tsunamis, which originated in Indonesia and killed nearly 4,500 people in India. About 8,000 are also missing, feared dead.

“We don’t have the advance warning system and it is not possible to detect a tsunami until it reaches shallow waters and hits the coast,” he said.

On Tuesday, officials at Thailand’s Meteorological Department accepted they may have delayed sounding a tidal wave warning for fear it could damage the country’s lucrative tourism industry.

Sulamee Prachuab, who heads the department’s Seismological Bureau, said the agency needed to be cautious because the government’s tourism agency deems that such warnings would hurt tourism if a predicted disaster didn’t occur.