http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/5191190.stm
Last Updated: Tuesday, 18 July 2006, 17:47 GMT 18:47 UK
Indonesia tsunami system 'not ready'
By Laura Smith-Spark
BBC News
Eighteen months after the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami, hundreds have
died after a giant wave struck the Indonesian island of Java.
Some villagers say there was little or no warning ahead of the
tsunami
Their deaths have raised questions about the failure of a promised Indian
Ocean tsunami early warning system to sound an adequate alert.
More than 300 people died and about 140 were reported missing after the
tsunami struck Java's southern coast on Monday.
Witnesses have said people had little or no warning to flee the 2m-high
wave triggered by an undersea earthquake.
Java resident Elan Jayalani, whose village of Batukaras was one of those
affected, told the BBC: "There was some confusion about the warning.
"We were told that there had been an earthquake and the tsunami might
come in a couple of days... we never expected it."
The new Indian Ocean early warning system - proposed after the December
2004 tsunami which claimed 200,000 lives - was said by the UN to be "up and
running" late last year.
So why did a warning not reach Java's affected communities in time?
Click here to see where the system is sited
Indonesian earthquake official Fauzi told the BBC that although progress
had been made, there were still serious shortcomings in Indonesia's monitoring
systems and communications network.
Many people have been displaced after their homes were destroyed
These were compounded by the speed at which Monday's tsunami struck, said
Fauzi, who works for Indonesia's Bureau of Meteorology and Geophysics (BMG).
It currently takes scientists up to 60 minutes to receive and analyse the
data from 30 seismological stations and send out a warning.
With only a 20-minute interval between the magnitude 7.7 undersea
earthquake and the arrival of the waves on shore, there was just no time to
warn people, Fauzi said.
However, work is under way to improve the system.
a.. Thirty more seismological stations are to be installed this year
b.. A total of 160 will be in place when the network is completed in
2009, cutting the time taken to receive and process earthquake data to less
than five minutes
c.. At present two ocean pressure sensors - part of the Deep-ocean
Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami (Dart) system - are in place. Another 15-20
Dart buoys are planned by 2009
d.. Four land-based tide gauges are now in place in Aceh, Nias island,
Padang and Bali. An international network spanning the Indian Ocean continues
to be updated and expanded
'Unexpected'
The final part of the jigsaw is getting the warning message from tsunami
monitoring centres to Jakarta and - in a matter of minutes - to often isolated
communities.
[It's] a hard thing to keep up that level of awareness and to have
people be able to react quickly when an event occurs
Charles McCreary
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, Hawaii
Fauzi said: "We don't have the systems yet so what we do is call by
telephone. But sometimes the lines are busy and it's very difficult to get
through.
"We need to set up an exclusive communication system because otherwise
it's going to be the same problem. If we use public communication systems, it's
not going to work very well."
In the meantime, officials were making use of SMS messages to contact
communities at risk, he said.
Networks of sirens are also being set up this year in the Aceh, Padang
and Bali regions to alert people who may be too poor to own TVs, radios or
mobile phones. Another is to be built in Java next year.
Awareness level
Educating vulnerable coastal communities so they know how to react if an
earthquake strikes or a tsunami warning is issued is also key.
It remains difficult to get warning messages to all vulnerable
people
When the waters receded before the giant waves hit Java's coast,
witnesses reported people running on to the exposed seabed to look - a reaction
that cost many lives in the 2004 tsunami.
Charles McCreary, director of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in
Hawaii, told BBC News that, despite improvements in warning systems, basic
safety messages had still not reached everyone.
"The strategy has always been that if you're near the ocean and you feel
a strong earthquake, that is your warning and you need to move to high ground
or inland as quickly as possible.
"But that's a hard thing to keep up that level of awareness and to have
people be able to react quickly when an event occurs - and it looks that there
was a failure of that today."
Financial help continues to come from governments and organisations
including Germany - a partner in building the Dart system - Japan, China and
the UN, Fauzi said.
But, he added, establishing such a complex new monitoring system
inevitably "takes time".
"Also, right now, there are difficulties with our human resources because
this is our first experience of setting up a tsunami system," he said.
"What we need is to ask the developed countries also to assist us with
expertise."
INDONESIA TSUNAMI WARNING SYSTEMS
Germany, Japan, China and the United Nations, among others, are
contributing towards Indonesia's tsunami warning system
Between 15 and 20 Dart buoys are expected to be in place by 2009
Indonesia also has 30 seismographic stations and plans 30 more by
end of 2006, 160 by 2009
Indian Ocean tsunami warning system
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