UN environment chief calls for Indian Ocean tsunami early warning system

An international disaster reduction conference set to open next week in Japan should serve to forge agreement on a tsunami early warning system for the Indian Ocean, the head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said today.

The meeting should also outline how such a system can be extended beyond that region to all seas and oceans across the globe and to all forms of natural and man-made disasters, including climate change, said Klaus Toepfer, UNEP's Executive Director.

The need for early warning was one of the key outcomes of a just-concluded UN conference on small island developing States held in Mauritius. The disaster reduction conference, which will be held from 18 to 22 January in Kobe, “must now take this forward and put real flesh on these plans including the sums of money needed and the roles of the different actors involved,” Mr. Toepfer added.

A special session of the Kobe World Conference on Disaster Reduction will be held on 19 January to specifically address the tsunami issue.

Mr. Toepfer said much could be learned from the Caribbean Tsunami Warning System, which was approved in 2002 following an earlier meeting hosted by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and UNEP.

The system, which would cover areas including the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the Bahamas, is designed to alert countries and communities to a potentially damaging tsunami by ringing telephones and setting off alarm tones on personal computers. It also involves setting up networks of sea level gauges, able to detect the emergence of big waves, and of seismic, weather and meteorological stations.

An aggressive public education and information programme for local communities is also proposed, including how to spot warning signs and develop appropriate evacuation procedures.

The system, which has been priced at just under $2.5 million, would take about three years to establish. But since being approved there has been little progress towards its implementation.

“We must ensure that the proposed Indian Ocean early-warning system does not, like the Caribbean one, simply lie on the shelf gathering dust,” the UNEP chief declared.