Hi-tech tsunami alert system launched

Mumbai can be now alerted within minutes, in case devastating tsunami waves move towards country's business capital. Scientists have created an Early Warning System, which can locate exact epicentre of an earthquake within minutes of its occurance.

Based on the real-time calculation of datas collected through sensors, digital tide gauges and Bottom Pressure Recorders (BPRs), tsunamigenic earthquakes, the direction, speed and intensity of the tsunami waves can be detected within 13 minutes and well in time for evacuation of people.

The government formally launched this Early Warning System on Monday following the completion of its successful trials.

"The efficiency of the system was proved during under-sea earthquake of 8.4 M that occurred on September 12, 2007, in the Indian Ocean. The team of Indian scientists calculated time, capacity and the right height of waves generated from the region. We had put Chennai and Andaman Nicobar regions on high alert," said Kapil Sibal, minister for Science and Technology, and Earth Sciences.

According to the experts in the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information System (INCOIS), the east and west coasts of lndia and the island regions are likely to be affected by tsunamis generated by subduction zone related earthquakes from the two potential source regions, - the Andaman-Nicobar-Sumatra island arc and the Makran subduction zone.

The scientists have identified tsunamigenic zones threatening the Indian coast considering the historical tsunamis, earthquakes, their magnitudes, relative location of the area, and by tsunami modelling.

Tsunami waves generated in the Arabian Sea, following a possible earthquake in the Makran, region will take 210 minutes to hit Mumbai. The waves can be as high as three meters leading to great devastation.

The same waves will hit Karachi within one hour, Dwakara in two hours, and Cochin in four hours. Thanks to the new system, the Indian scientists will now be able to alert the country well in advance. "Country will not be caught unaware like 2004 December," said P.S. Goel, secretary, department of Earth Sciences.

The system, seen as technological marvel by the international community, was lauded by Peter Koltermann, head of the tsunami coordination of Intergovernmental Oceangraphic Commission. "The Indian system is the most modern one," he said. Around 150 scientists worked for last two years to create the system costing Rs125 crores. The Early Warning Centre based in Hyderabad receives real-time seismic data from the national seismic network of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) and other international seismic networks.

The system can detect all earthquake events more than 6 richter scale magnitude occurring in Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean within minutes of its occurrence. BPRs installed in the sea/ocean are the key sensors to confirm the triggering of a tsunami.

Seismic and sea-level data are continuously monitored through a system that generates alerts in the warning centre whenever a pre-set threshold is crossed.

The National Early Warning Centre will then disseminate timely advisories to the Control Room of the Ministry of Home Affairs for further action. The National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) has installed 4 BPRs in the Bay of Bengal and the 2 BPRs in Arabian Sea in addition to 30 Tide Gauges.

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