Full tsunami warning system by Sep '07: Sibal

New Delhi, Dec 26 (UNI) A world-class tsunami warning system will be installed by September next year that will give warning of the tidal waves within 20 minutes of the occurence of a quake, Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said today.

''Within 10 minutes we will know about the intensity of the quake at the bottom of the ocean, and within 20 minutes warning will be given about the location, spread and the danger posed,'' Mr Sibal told a press conference on the 2nd anniversary of the tsunami disaster.

At present, an interim tsunami warning system is already functioning at the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad, which takes about 30 minutes to give the warning, Mr Sibal said 12 bottom pressure recorders (BPRs) for monitoring propagation of tsunami waves in the ocean and consequent sea level changes will be installed-- 10 in the Bay of Bengal and 2 in the Arabian Sea.

Of these six have been procured and integrated with indigenous surface buoy systems with four being deployed in the Bay of Bengal.

One BPR data is being received and another is expected by this month-end. Two will be deployed by January-end next year, and two more will be deployed in the Arabian Sea by March 2007, he said.

MORE UNI YJ MSJ KN1732