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Early warning system by next year
By Chandani Kirinde
Sri Lanka will support India to take a leading role in the setting of up of a tsunami early warning system for the Indian ocean region, Science and Technology Minister Tissa Vitharana said yesterday.

Prof. Vitharana who represented Sri Lanka at the United Nations Conference on Disaster Reduction said he proposed that just as the US played the leading role in setting up the tsunami early warning system for the pacific region, India should play such a role for the Indian Ocean region.

The Minister said the consensus at the Kobe conference held from January 18 till yesterday was that the tsunami early warning system for the Indian Ocean should be under the United Nations and be part of an international network.

Prof. Vitharana said they hoped the early warning system could be set up by the middle of next year. As a follow-up to Kobe, a regional ministerial meeting would be held in Phuket -- one of the tsunami devastated areas in Thailand -- on January 28 and 29.
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