Early tsunami warning system: India becomes regional power in tsunami prediction

By Syed Akbar
Hyderabad:  No tsunamigenic earthquake of any magnitude
occurring in any part of the vast Indian Ocean will now escape the
super keen eyes of the city-based Early Tsunami Warning Centre
attached to the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services
thanks to the computed 5000 and odd simulated scenarios.

The ETWC has prepared around 5000 simulated models on various types of
earthquakes that may occur deep in the Indian Ocean and cause a
possible tsunami. Scientists at the ETWC did not leave any possible
scenario and prepared software that's fast and reliable.

"We have generated about 5000 tsunamigenic earthquake scenarios so
that earthquake of any magnitude capable of triggering a tsunami is
covered. For each of these scenarios, we have calculated the time for
hitting the coast, the areas to be affected and the height of the
tsunami waves that may cause havoc. All possible scenarios have been
covered for accurate predictability," said Incois director Dr Sateesh
C Shenoi.

Early Tsunami Warning Centre incharge Dr T Srinivas Kumar said as many
as 350 seismic stations around the globe are linked to the Incois and
based on the data provided by them ETWC generates tsunami-related
information. "These stations send us information within 20 seconds of
occurrence of an earthquake. Since the ETWC was set up in 2007, as
many as 16 evens have been handled. Of these, two turned out to be
tsunamis," he added.

Earlier, scientists at Incois generated 15 bulletins as part of a mock
drill re-enacting the December 26, 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean.
"In the exercise, first of its kind in the Indian Ocean, 23 countries
participated in the mock exercise aimed at testing the preparedness.
In Andhra Pradesh several villages were selected for the drill.
Nellore was left out of the drill due to the launch of PSLV C18 from
Sriharikota," National Disaster Management Authority vice-chairman M
Sashidhar Reddy said.

The ETWC is so sophisticated that at the click of a mouse, data about
tsunami is sent across the stakeholders simultaneously through global
telecommunication system, fax, email, sms and website. With the
successful mock drill, India has formally joined the select club of
regional tsunami warning nations.