BANGKOK (AFX) - Thailand will host a regional ministerial meeting this month on an agreed tsunami early warning system for the Indian Ocean after last month's catastrophic waves, the foreign ministry said.
Information and technology ministers from all nations affected by the Dec 26 earthquake and resulting tsunamis will be invited, along with Japan and the United States, which have offered technical expertise for development of such a system.
The meeting is due to take place Jan 28-29, but an exact location has yet to be finalized, said foreign ministry spokesman Sihasak Phuangketkeow.
"The meeting aims to follow up the summit meeting in Jakarta," where world leaders agreed to establish a regional early warning system to detect and warn of tsunamis before they strike, Sihasak told Agence France-Presse.
Such a system, which makes use of seismic stations throughout the world to locate earthquakes capable of generating giant waves, is already in place for Pacific Ocean countries and has been credited with saving countless lives.
At the Jakarta summit, Thailand proposed hosting the headquarters for an Indian Ocean warning system at its Asia Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), an organization covering 30 countries, but which currently does not try to detect tsunamis.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan also urged that the region set up such a system in the wake of disaster that killed more than 156,000 people in 11 countries.
There was no immediate estimate on the cost, but Bangkok has calculated that creating such a mechanism in Thailand alone will require 50 mln usd, not including operating costs.
The new mechanism is likely to dominate the UN World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe, Japan from Jan 18.
tp/mlm/gs/mp/ds
For more information and to contact AFX: www.afxnews.com and www.afxpress.com
Information and technology ministers from all nations affected by the Dec 26 earthquake and resulting tsunamis will be invited, along with Japan and the United States, which have offered technical expertise for development of such a system.
The meeting is due to take place Jan 28-29, but an exact location has yet to be finalized, said foreign ministry spokesman Sihasak Phuangketkeow.
"The meeting aims to follow up the summit meeting in Jakarta," where world leaders agreed to establish a regional early warning system to detect and warn of tsunamis before they strike, Sihasak told Agence France-Presse.
Such a system, which makes use of seismic stations throughout the world to locate earthquakes capable of generating giant waves, is already in place for Pacific Ocean countries and has been credited with saving countless lives.
At the Jakarta summit, Thailand proposed hosting the headquarters for an Indian Ocean warning system at its Asia Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), an organization covering 30 countries, but which currently does not try to detect tsunamis.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan also urged that the region set up such a system in the wake of disaster that killed more than 156,000 people in 11 countries.
There was no immediate estimate on the cost, but Bangkok has calculated that creating such a mechanism in Thailand alone will require 50 mln usd, not including operating costs.
The new mechanism is likely to dominate the UN World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe, Japan from Jan 18.
tp/mlm/gs/mp/ds
For more information and to contact AFX: www.afxnews.com and www.afxpress.com
© 2005 AFX News
