Asia to get Tsunami Warning System by July, UN promises
Asia to get Tsunami Warning System by July, UN promises
Countries affected by the South Asian tsunami should have a warning system against sea surges in place by July, UN Under Secretary Jan Egeland said Monday, as officials took nations to task for failing to prepare civilians for a potential future disaster, reports Agence France Presse.
The Third International Conference on Early Warning in Bonn, Germany is intended to create warning and fund systems around the world to “cover all countries and all hazards,” a plea issued by UN chief Kofi Annan in the wake of the Asian tsunami. Egeland, who spearheaded international humanitarian efforts for tsunami victims, said the number of people who have been affected by weather disasters had more than doubled in the past decade to 2.5 billion compared to the decade before. At the same time, the death toll in disasters such as floods and droughts had dropped because governments and the international community had learned to react to advance warnings, thereby saving lives.
Opening the three-day conference, Egeland said there was still a long way to go before the early alert system would cover every community in the vast area that was devastated by killer waves on December 26, 2004. On the sidelines of the conference, Egeland and colleagues expressed frustration that Indian Ocean rim states were proving slow to take steps to ensure that warnings will reach their people.
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