The Hindu Business Line : DOD's tsunami warning systems in the works

THE Department of Ocean Development (DOD) has recognised two zones along the East and West coasts that can generate tsunamis and is setting up systems for advance warnings, which will be in place in 30 months.

Speaking to newspersons on board the Sagar Kanya, a research vessel, the DOD Secretary, Mr Harsh K. Gupta, said that apart from the Java-Sumatra plate boundary that extends into the Andaman and Nicobar Islands up to Myanmar, which was responsible for the earthquake that triggered the tsunami on December 26, there was another fault zone on the West coast, an extension of the fault responsible for the Bhuj earthquake in January 2001, which could set off a tsunami.

Tamil Nadu on the East coast and Gujarat on the West are most at risk from tsunamis.

The added risk on the West coast is that there would be much less advance warning.

However, major cities such as Mumbai are in a shadow area and not at as much risk as the more exposed coastal areas, he said.

A detailed survey of the Andaman and Nicobar coast and other tsunami-affected areas by a team of 30 scientists on board the Sagar Kanya - which has just completed the 36-day cruise - had shown that coastal areas along parts of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the mainland had subsided by more than a metre.

For instance, the Chennai port is deeper by about a metre.

The earthquake that set off the tsunami is believed to be among the most intense ever and measured about 9.3 in moment-magnitude, according to Mr Gupta.

The department has started setting up a Rs 125-crore tsunami warning system and would complete the entire network in 30 months, involving setting up of ocean bottom sensors that would detect tsunami generation, intensity and travel time.

Equipment to monitor earthquakes that can potentially generate a tsunami will also be set up.

A component of the integrated coastal and marine area management programme would involve generation of models of inundation in coastal areas in relation to tsunami intensity to create disaster mitigation plans. This would be done in collaboration with space scientists, he said.

Warning systems for storm surges, which are annual occurrences, with tide gauges and ocean observing radars are also a part of the warning system, he added.

Dr K.S.R. Murthy of the National Institute of Oceanography, who led the team, which included scientists from the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, said that the cruise programme was to study the impact of the tsunami on the environment in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman and Nicobar regions.

Large numbers of water and soil samples and biological specimens have been collected as a part of the multi-disciplinary study. The results would be available in three-six months.

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