The Hindu Business Line : S. Asian tsunami warning system may cost $200 m

THE proposed tsunami early warning system for countries in the Indian Ocean region could cost $150 million - $200 million. If the project is started now, it could be made operational in three years.

Stating this, Prof. Tad Murthy, an internationally acknowledged expert on tsunamis from Canada, told reporters here that all the 36 countries in the region should participate and it should be under the aegis of the UN to be effective.

Prof. Murthy is in India to make a presentation on earthquake-induced tsunamis and a warning system to the Indian Government and for a `Brainstorming session' (organised by the Department of Science and Technology/DST) in New Delhi. Another Japanese expert has also been invited for the session. Incidentally, both Japan and Canada have come forward to help in evolving a warning system.

He said India cannot set up a warning centre on its own in the region, not out of lack of money or scientific expertise, but because it involves the participation of many countries.

India, however, is located in the centre of the Indian Ocean, and is therefore, ideally suited to host the centre and play a significant role, Prof. Murthy said.

He said that in Canada, it took two years to set up the warning system. "The Canadian Government asked me as Chairman to get the project done in the private sector. We used universities and private organisations and they did a good job. My suggestion to the Indian Government is also to utilise the services of the private sector."

Presenting his own model for a tsunami warning system for the Indian Ocean region, he said it should have four components — a seismographic network; a tide gauge network; computer model simulations (which would be the brain of the warning system) and the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning Centre (IOTWC).

Prof. Murthy favoured Visakhapatnam for the IOTWC, since Chennai in the South and Kolkata in the East could be hit by tsunamis. Moreover, Vizag has a cyclone warning centre and a centre of the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa.

He felt that NIO should house the tsunami research centre at Goa. The Central Water and Power Resources Institute, Pune; the National Institute for Ocean Technology, Chennai; the National Geophysical Research Institute and the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information System in Hyderabad; the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, should be provided additional resources to effectively participate.

The DST and the Department of Ocean Development should provide funds, IITs and universities should also participate.

The IOTWC should be round-the-clock, with 24-hour operations and an online data network. It should also be connected to the Pacific Ocean Tsunami Warning System, which he said had never failed to catch a tsunami.

However, there have been many false alarms in the Pacific system, not due to scientific information, but due to other defence and administrative factors.

Prof. Murthy was in Hyderabad, where he discussed the earthquake-induced tsunami of December 26 and the need for a warning system at the Centre for Earth and Space Sciences of the University of Hyderabad.

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