Monday, December 27 2004 19:10 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Government today (Dec 27, 2004) decided to install sea floor pressure recording system in the Indian Ocean, to send warnings in the event of a Tsunami building up in the seas, in a bid to avoid recurrence of the catastrophe caused by the earthquake-induced killer waves in the coastal areas of south India.

It has also decided to join a network of 26 countries which warn each other of any changes in the sea pressure and possibility of the onset of high tidal waves related to earthquake in the waters, and start the work on microzonation of Delhi soon, Minister of State for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal told reporters in New Delhi after a meeting with the officials of his Ministry on the devastation.

The new system would be linked to the existing devices called data buoys, which record sea surface parametres, Sibal said adding any disturbance in the pressure of water would be recorded and sent to satellites.

The pressure recording system, which was to be imported from the US, would also strengthen the country's cyclone warning system considering the fact that 25 per cent of the world's cyclones are recorded in the Bay of Bengal, Sibal said.

"If the country had such an alert system in place, then we could have warned the coastal areas of the imminent danger and avoided the loss of life," he said.

The Minister said that joining the network of countries, which warn each other on tsunamis, would benefit India.

"While Indonesia, a member of the network, got the information, India did not," he said.