28 countries join tsunami warning system trial
Hotli Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh | Wed, 10/14/2009 1:34 PM
Twenty-eight countries around the Indian Ocean will take part in the trial run of a tsunami early warning system held in conjunction with the 2009 Indian Ocean Wave (IOWAVE09) event Wednesday in Aceh, an official says.
"We hope all countries that border the Indian Ocean will be prepared to take part in the trial run," Edi Prihantoro, an assistant to the research and technology minister, said Tuesday in Banda Aceh.
He added the countries would be able to analyze and take necessary steps to save people living in tsunami-prone areas.
The IOWAVE09 is aimed at testing the early warning system in the framework of commemorating and mitigating the risks of international disasters, as ruled in the United Nations High Congress through UNESCO's International Oceanographic (IO) Commission.
Under the IO-UNESCO meeting, Indian Ocean nations have agreed to build a regional tsunami early warning system, coordinate among member countries, form a task force and join the International Coordination Group for the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG/IOTWS).
During a recent ICG/IOTWS meeting in Malaysia, member countries also agreed to test the regional early warning system installed in the Indian Ocean through the Indian Wave Exercise 2009, with Indonesia as head of IOWAVE.
