Tsunami warning equipment set to arrive from US

NEW DELHI: Three years after the Tsunami had struck havoc in southern and eastern parts of the country, Meteorological Department has navigated its way through a maze of bureaucratic and procedural delay to acquire the state-of-the-art seismic detection equipment that will help in timely warning about the killer waves.

Seismic broadband meters for early detection of earthquake, communication equipment for data transmission and connectivity through V-Sat, super computers for data processing are some of the hi-tech equipment worth about Rs 11 crore being procured from the US.

"The orders have been placed and the equipment would be delivered and installed at 17 centres in the country next month," RC Bhatia, Director General of Indian Meterological Department (IMD), told.

While the earthquake warning system known as Real Time Seismic and GPS Monitoring Network would be installed in 17 locations including Bhuj, Chennai, Port Blair,  Dehradun, Visakhapatnam and Pune, the latest computers would be installed in Delhi and Hyderabad for data processing.

The system is capable of locating earthquakes and determining their magnitudes and time of occurence within a few minutes of arrival of seismic waves at the stations.

About the delay in acquiring the system, Bhatia said there are certain procedures like technical evaluation, specification tenders, surveying the areas besides assessing the suitability for Indian context is involved before placing the import orders for procurement, he added.

Though IMD has eqiuipment for quake monitoring it was not adequate for Tsunami warning.

Tsunami can be caused by landslides or volcanic eruptions under the sea. It can also happen if a sizable asteroid falls in the sea.

The installation of these state-of-the-art equipment is meant for monitoring earthquake which are capable of generating Tsunami and likely to affect Indian coast and islands.

AK Bhatnagar, additional director general, IMD, said "the information gathered would provide direct inputs for the processing of datas along with oceanic data to the Tsunami warning centre at the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) in Hyderabad which will ultimately send Tsunami alerts and warnings. The IMD in Delhi and the INCOIS in Hyderabad would act as central receiving stations."

Once the system becomes operational by next month, the IMD would be able to provide accurate information about a possible Tsunami generating potential of an earthquake to Tsunami warning centre in Hyderabad at a faster pace.
   
The Integrated Coastal Marine and Management Centre in Chennai has prepared a detailed method calculating the flooding of coastal areas, height of the sea wave and the time it would take to hit different places if Tsunami happens.