‘WE ARE MOVING AHEAD’ ON INDIAN OCEAN EARLY WARNING SYSTEM, SAYS DIRECTOR

OF INTERNATIONAL STRATEGY FOR DISASTER REDUCTION SECRETARIAT

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 20 April (OCHA) -- Some 250 officials and experts from 25 Indian Ocean countries gathered in Mauritius from 14 to 16 April for the Second International Coordination Meeting for the Development of a Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System in the Indian Ocean. 

The meeting was co-organized by the International Oceanographic Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations/International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR).

At a press conference in Geneva, the Director of the ISDR secretariat, Salvano Briceño said, “Mauritius was a good meeting.  We are moving ahead and we are confident that the Indian Ocean countries will have an operational early warning system by the end of 2006.”

Mr. Briceño welcomed the support received by governments and donor countries in Mauritius and recalled the importance of having a complete system working as quickly as possible in the region.  “Countries and governments are fully committed to the implementation of an early warning system in the region, they are supporting us and they understand the urgency and the necessity of having a multi-hazard warning system in the region.”

Asked about the budget necessary to implement the system, he said, “$11 million have already been committed to essential steps this year, like reinforcing the observing network in the region and starting public awareness projects.  Sixteen countries in the Indian Ocean have now established a national tsunami focal point, which is crucial for the dissemination of warning information messages to national contact points in the region. We now need another $12 million to continue the upgrading of the existing systems, to secure the sea level reading networks, and to build up national warning system capacities.  “Those $23 million are in line with what has been asked in Kobe.”

During the World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe, Japan, last January, experts estimated at $30 million the amount necessary for installing a complete early warning system in the Indian Ocean region.

Mr. Briceño took the opportunity to thank the Governments of Japan, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Germany and the European Commission for their constant support, and repeated that he is satisfied to see how countries are working well together.

“We now need to concentrate our efforts on multi-hazards risk assessment, disaster preparedness, communication of early warning information from national and local authorities to the communities at risk”, he said.

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