Tsunami-ravaged countries at a conference in Thailand failed to resolve differences over which one should host a disaster warning centre and instead decided to set up smaller facilities in several countries to help prevent future catastrophes. The two-day meeting on the ravaged resort island of Phuket focused on the creation of a tsunami warning system for the Indian Ocean, which experts say would have saved many of the 145,000 to 178,000 lives lost across 11 countries on December 26. Delegates struggled over where to base a centre that would collect seismic and oceanographical data from countries on the Indian Ocean rim, analyze it and issue alerts to areas in danger. Thailand pushed hard to make a Bangkok-based disaster prevention centre the hub, but faced opposition from India and Indonesia. India and Indonesia also said they wanted to host the centre. But the participants reached a compromise, that a UN agency, International Oceanographic Commission, should co-ordinate a decentralised network. “We agree that the role of the United Nations is the most important in ensuring that all aspects in building an early warning system are co-ordinated effectively and timely,”said Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai, quoted by Reuters news agency. “We agree to advance the establishment of such an arrangement through organisation of expert meetings and needs assessments, to be undertaken with the support of relevant regional and international institutions and governments.”
