Tsunami warning system for Asia by July : UN

GERMANY: Countries affected by the south Asian tsunami should have a warning system against sea surges in place by July, the UN's top humanitarian official said as officials took nations to task for failing to prepare civilians for a potential future disaster.

UN Under Secretary Jan Egeland, opening a UN conference here, said there was still a long way to go before the early alert system would cover every community in the vast area that was devastated by killer waves on December 26, 2004.

"I think we will have a warning system operational from July. It does not mean every villager in every community will have a system to warn him or her, but we will have regional and national systems," he told reporters.

UN Under Secretary Patricio Bernal said Egeland and former US president Bill Clinton had taken to task government officials from countries in the Indian Ocean in a closed-door meeting here in a bid to speed up the process.

"We are not worried about the technical side. At the moment we have 17 sensors in the Indian Ocean and by July we will have 23. If anything happens tonight, somebody will be there to move an alert," he told AFP.

"What we are afraid of is whether this information will flow down. The countries have not done enough. There is a lack of political will," he said.

He praised Sri Lanka for setting up siren systems and drilling school children, but said all efforts needed to be directed from the highest political office in every country to avoid confusion when a climate disaster strikes.

The three-day conference is intended to create warning and fund systems around the world to "cover all countries and all hazards", a plea issued by UN chief Kofi Annan in the wake of the Asian tsunami.

Berlin, Tuesday, AFP