Tsunami Warning System: Bali

When the Tsunami hit Sumatra over a year ago and devastated the area as well as the tourist strips along the southern Thailand coast and other places in the Indian Ocean including India and east Africa, it was agreed by the countries concerned that a Tsunami early warning system be set up to avoid further tragedies.

I was reading a small article the other day about the Tsunami Early Warning System or TEWS, being set up in Bali. There are a total of six to be installed and once operational, will safeguard visitors to the island using warning sirens indicating an approaching tsunami and giving those tourists plenty of time to reach higher ground. It is estimated that the system will see active monitors in operation on sea approaches for all of Bali's most popular beach areas.

One thing I didn't know and that was there are already monitors installed on Kuta beach continually monitoring changes in wave heights and changes in ocean currents. One shallow water monitor is in operation 338 meters from the shore of the Patra Jasa Resort (formerly the Pertamina Cottages) and another deep water monitor 2.6 kilometres off the lifeguard station on Kuta send a continual stream of data to computerized consoles on shore. The scheduled completion date for the Tsunami Early Warning System is the end of 2006.