Tsunami Early Warning System work moving into top gear

BY CHANDANI Jayatilleke

WILL there be another tsunami in the near future? This is the question that pops up in many Sri Lankan minds from time to time, since the December 26, 2004 catastrophe, which killed thousands and wantonly destroyed property in Sri Lanka and several other countries in the region.

If natural disasters such as the tsunamis are inevitable, what the countries and the authorities should do is take precautions and set up effective early warning systems to avoid the loss of lives and mass destruction.

The early warning system is not the only thing that is needed. The system should be linked to a large and an islandwide network of communications system.

The existing networks of Police, and the military and electronic media such as radio and television could be linked to the same warning system, so that when there is an emergency, the message can be sent across immediately.

And the people living in earthquake and tsunami prone areas should be educated on these facilities and at the regional level, various groups can be asked to be in-charge of disseminating the message right.

Well...the Sri Lankan Government and the authorities concerned say that they are seriously working on the matter and they have extensively discussed the issue and taken various measures to implement a system which has the capacity to inform the public of any danger in the future within 30 minutes, till the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System (IOTWS) comes into force in 2007.

Indian ocean countries are committed to the setting up of the IOTWS, by connecting the countries with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre and the Japan Meteorological Agency. Sri Lanka is continuing to play a major role in this endeavour, according to the Department of Meteorology.

Last week, the Meteorology Department in collaboration with the Ministry of Science and Technology conducted a workshop to educate the media on the progress the country has made over the early warning system during the last 12 months.

Science and Technology Minister Tissa Vitharana stressed the fact that the Government's aim is to take precautions to protect the people and minimise the damage to the property by implementing an effective warning system.

However, having an early warning system in place alone will not be sufficient to achieve the desired results in this connection. A proper system to convey the right message to the masses should be in place - this should avoid the people panicking and falling into unnecessary trouble.

"We want the media to play a responsible role in disseminating information to the public about the tsunami early warning system and also to educate them in the correct manner," he said.

Media can also play a lead role in this connection and tell them they themselves can play a role in the village level or regional level to make an awareness of the system.

"We cannot predict when the next tsunami may occur. It could happen at any time, within the next one-year or the next 100-years. But we want people to be aware of the danger, he said.

As far as the natural disasters are concerned, there is an increase of such occurrences in the globe. One of the major reasons for this is the global warming situation.

As a result the whole world can expect increased movements of floods, drought and tornadoes. "So we need to be prepared to face such situations in the future," he said adding that: "For Sri Lanka there are two areas - which would create earthquakes and the tsunamis - Sumathra (the East/and the South coast) and Iran/Pakistan (the North and the West Coast). Therefore Sri Lanka is in constant touch with the Tokyo and Honolulu stations to gather information on earthquake dangers.

"According to the present system, we can assure we are able to send the first warning within half an hour and then the people should be informed immediately," he confirmed.

Deputy Director of Meteorology Lalith Chandrapala said that they are in discussion with the National Institute of Education (NIE) to include a section on the tsunami in the school curriculum, so that the future generations will be well aware of such disasters.

Referring to the proposed IOTWS, he said to safeguard from the tsunami, we need to set up a network of seismological observations, a network of tide gauges and a network of deep sea pressure level monitors.

In Sri Lanka, the seismological observations network is being upgraded with the assistance of Japan at present. Two new tide gauge stations have been set up in Kirinde and Trincomalee after the tsunami. Earlier there was only one such gauge in Mattakkuliya.

This facility, although it alone is not adequate to get full information on a possible tsunami, will be sufficient to send warning signals within a short time.

"The warning system which we are hoping to complete by 2007, however should be efficient and should include communications systems to reach the people as soon as possible," Chandrapala added.

"Our main approach in this regard will be the TV and Radio, Sri Lanka Police and military communication networks," he said.

In case an earthquake has occurred in Sumathra and a tsunami has erupted as a result, it will take about two hours for the tsunami to reach the Eastern coast of Sri Lanka.

So if we have an effective system in place, we can inform the people within 30 minutes and also give more details within the next one-hour.

However, developing a fully operational warning system for the Indian Ocean countries is a long process.

The early warning system needs to be an end-to-end system - one that includes hazard and risk assessment for each nation, hazard warnings and preparedness, ocean observations, data management, forecasting, forecast and warning dissemination and capacity building.

On December 26, 2004, such a system existed only in the Pacific Ocean basin - which is the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre (PTWC) in Hawaii. All these years, it worked as a local tsunami-warning center for Hawaii. But since the December 26, 2004, things have changed.

And today, it serves as an interim warning center for the Indian Ocean - in cooperation with the Japan Meteorological Agency which issues bulletins for hazard related events in the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean until proper systems are in place for those regions.

In Sri Lanka, the Department of Meteorology was designated as the national focal point to receive and disseminate tsunami warnings in March 2005.

At present the Interim Tsunami Warning Centre in the Department of Meteorology, which works round-the-clock, receives tsunami information from Japan Meteorological Agency and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre.

Prof. Samantha Hettiarachchi of the University of Moratuwa, Director Geological Survey and Mines Bureau, Sarath Weerawarnakula and Director of Meteorology, P. M. Jayatilaka Banda also gave valuable insights at the workshop.