Malaysia takes U.S. cue on tsunami warning system
Malaysia has taken the cue from James Kelly of the US State Department to set up a tsunami warning system to help prevent future tsunami disasters. Confirming the government’s decision, Dr. Jamaluddin Jarjis, minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, said, “We will set up our own tsunami alerting mechanism in Malaysian waters while working closely with future regional partners to establish a cohesive early warning system.â€
The US National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA) will assist Malaysia on setting up the system, estimated to cost 20 million ringgits. It will be installed as soon as possible, and is expected to be completed by the end of the year. The cost includes the purchase, installation and working technology for equipment at eight meteorological stations in the country.
According to NOAA which operates the Pacific Tsunami Warning System in Hawaii, Deep-Ocean Assessment and Reporting (DART) can give an early tsunami forecast using its surface buoy and a bottom pressure recorder (BPR).
DART is capable of detecting a possible tsunami with an aptitude as small as one cm based on water pressures at the sea bed. It has a real-time capability of relying the BPR data to the buoy and then to a ground station via the Geo-stationary Satellite
(GOES).
“We will be doing it on a national, regional and international basis with co-operation of the UN, “ Minister Jarjis said. “We are doing this to ensure our people are better prepared in the event of future tsunami attacks.â€
To be set up in the Indian Ocean between the coastlines of Langkawi, Penang, Aceh and Phuket, as well as in the Pacific Ocean waters off the Sabah-Mindanao shore, it will alert the Malaysian Tsunami Center and The Tsunami Center in Hawaii.
The NOAA will recommend the project consultants and component suppliers as we will be using the American warning system. “We will also be sending a technical group to Hawaii to discuss technical and implementation aspects of the project.â€
Malaysia will also be sending a team to the regional meeting in Bangkok on January 28, to be attended by nations from Southeast Asia and those surrounding the Indian Ocean.
A technical team will be attending a World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe, Japan this coming January 16.
Malaysia will also be a member country to the Global Tsunami Warning System at the Third Earth Observation Summit meeting, to be held in Brussels on February 16.
(1 ringgit= US$.26)
By Y. Sulaiman
KUALA LUMPUR (eTurboNews)
January 19, 2005
Posted in: Malaysia