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New Warning System Fails For Latest Tsunami Victims
Jakarta (AFP) Jul 18, 2006 Indonesians fleeing the tsunami that lashed the south coast of Java had no warning of their fate, with a country-wide early warning system not due to be in place until 2009, officials said Tuesday. Plans for such a system in Indonesia were drafted in the wake of the devastating 2004 Asian tsunami, but only two out of 25 planned sensor buoys have been deployed so far -- off Sumatra, not Java, officials said. Many people along the beaches hit by the waves on Monday afternoon said they did not even feel the 7.7-magnitude earthquake which would have alerted them to the possibility of a tsunami striking. "I couldn't feel anything and then about five minutes after the water subsided, the waves came," said Budi, a 24-year-old who was surfing at Batu Keras beach around 30 kilometres (20 miles) west of Pangandaran. Budi said he thought the ocean drawing back may have been a sign of the waves about to lash the coast but there was no official warning and little time to run. Many people had begun rushing out to sea to look at the fish flapping as the it withdrew, he said, an eerie reminder of the way many lives were claimed two years ago. "Our system is not yet working properly. We are still developing a communication system especially for the regions," Fauzi, an official working on the early warning project from the meteorology agency in Jakarta, told AFP. He said only two sensor buoys were in place on Sumatra but that nothing had yet been installed off Java. Edi Prihantoro, from the Ministry of Science and Technology, said even those two sets of buoys and ocean-bottom pressure sensors, activated off western Sumatra last November by Indonesian and German scientists, were not working. "According to a grand scenario we will have up to 25 buoys that can monitor ocean phenomena, but until now we have deployed only two buoys. They have some problems and are on land," he said. The system was slated to be in place by the end of 2008, he said. A lack of funds to buy and maintain the buoys was delaying the implementation of the system, he said, arguing that not only Indonesia should pay for its upkeep. "We still are discussing budget and maintenance. But I think other countries must also be taking care of it. They get all the ocean data from us, it seems unfair if they don't take responsibility for that," he said. Prihantoro said the German and Chinese governments had so far donated funds for the system but that it would be expensive to set up across Indonesia. If installed as planned, buoys along Indonesia's vast archipelago working in conjunction with more than 100 seismographs would detect the speed of seismic waves to determine whether there was a risk of a tsunami. Data would be analysed and relayed automatically through mobile phone text message or email to officials who could then inform residents. But getting the message through to them could still prove a challenge. Even if Java had had a system in place on Monday, it is doubtful many of the small fishing villages along Java's south coast would have received any SMS warnings as mobile reception is limited and many people are too poor to own phones. "It is not enough to warn people through TV and radio. The problem is direct communication to communities on the ground," said Fauzi. He said the most direct way to alert residents would be sirens on beaches. "This year we will build three siren systems in Aceh, West Sumatra and Bali. We will build one in Java next year," he said. Indonesia sits on the so-called Pacific Rim of Fire, where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity. It lacked a warning system when a massive quake hit off Sumatra last December 26, unleashing a tsunami that swept up to seven kilometers (4.5 miles) inland and killing some 220,000 people in 11 countries around the Indian Ocean.
Source: Agence France-Presse Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links A world of storm and tempest Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters When the Earth Quakes A world of storm and tempest
Villagers Prepare To Evacuate From Rumbling Philippine Volcano
Matanag, Philippines (AFP) Jul 20, 2006Villagers on the slopes of Mayon volcano prepared to evacuate Thursday as a series of minor eruptions and cloud of ash indicated it was building up for a major eruption soon, officials said. |
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