The Ministerial Meeting in Phuket agreed to take immediate and practical steps towards the establishment of a tsunami early warning system in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia. The Meeting provided guidance that such arrangement should build on existing institutions and mechanisms, strengthen and upgrade national systems, link national mechanisms with sub-regional and regional capabilities, integrate early warning with preparedness, mitigation and response (end-to-end), and must be integrated into existing warning systems to promote a multi-hazard approach to make the system sustainable.

The meeting recognized the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center’s (ADPC) readiness to serve as a regional center or focal point for a multi-nodal tsunami early warning arrangement in the region, and its goal to strengthen its capacity, including the incorporation of additional technological capabilities. (Prior to the ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting in Jakarta, the Royal Thai Government (RTG) requested ADPC to support the development of Thailand’s national tsunami early warning capabilities and play a role as a regional center or focal point in establishing and operating a tsunami early warning system in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia. Subsequently, the RTG brought this proposal before the Special ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting in Jakarta and in the Ministerial Meeting in Phuket.)

Also, in the Ministerial Meeting in Phuket, the RTG proposed the setting up of a Voluntary Trust Fund, with UN-ESCAP as fund administrator, into which countries may contribute to promote predictable funding for the regional tsunami early warning system and to strengthen national and regional capacities in early warning, and pledged US$10 million as seed money. >>more