Constructing tsunami warning system

The project to build a tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean was started off the coast of Indonesia.

The system is being tested and is a joint project between Germany and Indonesia

Indonesian Aceh Province, located in the north of Sumatra Island, suffered the most from the tsunami last December. Currently in a joint venture project with the Indonesian government, a German research ship is heading to the waters of Sumatra where they will place signal sensing buoys.

After eight months of design, testing and survey, two buoys warning early tsunamis are ready to deploy.

This buoy has a length of about seven meters with the equipment placed on the drain on the buoy and the system placed underground under the buoy to measure the impact. These devices are told with sensors located on the seabed. If there are abnormal fluctuations, these buoys are programmed to put information on satellites and transfer them to a land-based information processing station in Indonesia.

And at this center, scientists will be responsible for analyzing and interpreting data to decide whether to issue an alert or not.

Currently, tsunami announcements are sent to the community living in the seaside via text or email. People are also planning to set up a siren system to inform people faster.

Reinhold Ollig from the German Ministry of Education and Research explains that installing such a system in Indonesia is very important.

Mr. Ollig said, "This is the most dangerous area in the Indian Ocean region and we are working with our colleagues in Indonesia to implement this project to protect the life of this front line."

Scientists share the view that the Sumatra region is still unstable and the possibility of a large earthquake is quite large.

Nobody knows when there will be such an incident, but with the equipment in progress and fortunes, it is hoped to save thousands of lives if the tsunami recurs here.