"India, South Asia ignored tsunami alert system"

NEW YORK: India and other South Asian countries have tended to treat tsunamis as a problem of the Pacific Ocean and in the process not paid enough attention to warnings, say experts.

"Early warnings have existed since 1948 for countries in the Pacific basin; however, there is no existing tsunami alert system for the Indian Ocean," John Harding, programme officer for the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), said on phone from Geneva.

"There is a culture of preparing for tsunamis in the Pacific region unlike in the Indian Ocean countries." "Tsunami warnings are no rocket science. Countries in the Pacific region have been monitoring earthquakes and issuing early warnings for a long time," Harding said.

Over 23,000 people have been killed in South and Southeast Asian nations in tsunamis that struck Sunday.

Full Article : indiatimes.com