Sunday, December 25 2005 13:01 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Even as it prepares to mark the first anniversary of tsunami tomorrow (Dec 26, 2005), India is gearing itself up to understand mother nature better.

Indian scientists are in the process of placing 15-20 gauges in the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean that would enable them to monitor tidal activity round the clock, Department of Science and Technology Secretary V S Ramamurthy said here.

Currently, tidal activity is monitored only once in 24 hours.

The gauges, which would be ready in the next three months, is part of the efforts to create a larger tsunami warning system that the Government hopes would be functional by September 2007.

"We are on track. We will have a tsunami warning system fully operational by September 2007 as promised," Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal told sources.

"We are developing technologies, buying systems, and generating software for the purpose," he said.

Ramamurthy reassured that having a fully functional system by 2007 did not mean that the country cannot monitor unusual tidal activity now.

"The earthquake monitoring system, one of the most important component to detect tsunamis, is already operational, while more tidal gauges which detect the abnormal tidal activity in the ocean would be added in next three months," he said.