Indonesia on Tuesday launched a sophisticated tsunami early warning system nationwide, which can dissipate the threat of possible tsunami in five minutes, Indonesian president said here.
Indonesia, which was devastated by tsunami in 2004 in Aceh and 2006 in West Java with more than 170,000 deaths, is fragile from the treat of tsunami, as the country sits on a vulnerable quake-hit zone so called the "Pacific Ring of Fire."
The absence of a tsunami early warning system which causes lack of preparedness of those living in coastal areas has been blamed for the huge number of victims in Indonesia.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyno officially launched the system nationwide here in Jakarta on Tuesday.
"We will persistently operate this tsunami early warning system to continuously step up people's awareness and preparedness to face the catastrophe," President Susilo said in his speech.
The president said that the government would keep improving the system, including its acceleration on data collection and accuracy.
Yusuf Surachman Djaja, director of technology of natural resources of the country's Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology said that the current warning system had been improved with a better speed in disseminating information, so that it could give more time for the people in coastal areas to prepare.
Tsunami usually occurs half an hour after a quake.
"The system now only needs 5 minutes to disseminate information of possible tsunami, faster than that of years ago of 15 minutes," he told Xinhua.
The director said that the system relied on 22 buoys set up in the waters nationwide.
He said that the development of the technology of the system was under the cooperation with Germany and the United States.
Over 230 million population live in the archipelago country, Indonesia, with over 17,000 islands.
Source:Xinhua
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