MYANMAR officials are participating in a six-day international
meeting that began on March 3 in Paris in an attempt to draft
plans for the establishment of a tsunami warning and mitigation
system for the Indian Ocean.
A message on the website of the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) – which organised
the meeting – said the conference was intended to inform
nations bordering the Indian Ocean about tsunami threats at the
national, regional and global levels.
Attendees were also expected to draft a work plan and timetable
for the establishment of a tsunami warning and mitigation system,
it said.
U Tun Lwin, the head of the Myanmar delegation to Paris, said
the gathering would be the first technical meeting focusing on
the establishment of a tsunami warning and mitigation system for
the Indian Ocean.
The similar system has already been established in the Pacific
Ocean, and experts from countries in that region – including
Japan, the United States and Australia – were expected to
share their experiences at the meeting, said U Tun Lwin, who is
also the deputy director-general of the Department of Meteorology
and Hydrology under the Ministry of Transport.
“The Indian Ocean countries will gain experience in the
establishment of a warning system during the meeting, and we will
work together to draft the plans to put it in place,” he
said.
Also attending the meeting on behalf of Myanmar is U Maung Maung
Khin, the deputy director of the Department of Relief and Resettlement
under the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement.
Meanwhile an Indian Ocean tsunami website was launched on February
10 aimed at providing follow-up information about the December
26 disaster that devastated several countries in the region and
killed more than 250,000 people, UNESCO said on its website.
The website, www.ioc.unesco.org/indotsunami, will report on
activities that are being organised at the national, regional
and international levels to establish tsunami warning and mitigation
systems in the Indian and other oceans, it said.
