Tsunami Detection Buoy Working Well

Tsunami detection buoy working well

PHUKET: -- A test of the first tsunami-detection buoy anchored to the west of Phuket in the Indian Ocean has found it to be functioning properly, the head of the National Disaster Warning Centre (NDWC) said yesterday.

Smith Thammasaroj said that since being anchored on Wednesday about 1,100 kilometres off the coast of Phuket, near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Deep-Ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis II (DART II) buoy station had transmitted information to the NDWC headquarters in Nonthaburi every hour.

"I'm very satisfied with it," said Smith in a telephone interview with The Nation.

The installation of the first DART II buoy station was a collaboration between Thailand and the United States, said Smith. The US sponsored the buoy. Once it detects a tsunami, the buoy sends a warning to the NDWC office as well as to the US and other countries that have satellite systems linked with the DART II system, Smith said.

He added that next year three more buoys, bought by the Thai government, would be installed in the Indian Ocean between Phuket and the Nicobar Islands.

DART II buoy stations are equipped with advanced two-way satellite communications that let forecasters receive and retrieve critical data. They provide real-time tsunami detection. There are already five DART II stations in the Pacific Ocean.

-- The Nation, Phuket Gazette 2006-12-10