Samir has a valid point particularly since the NIO is based in Goa.
However, it is the Indian Government that is to be blamed for not participating in the tsunami warning system.
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Headline: 26 countries alerted in 15 minutes, India not one of them
28 Dec: Indian Express. 1015 words. at http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=61674
Excerpts: After yesterday's earthquake, there were 90 minutes before the first wave of the deluge crashed into the Indian coast. Within 15 minutes of the earthquake, scientists running the tsunami warning system for the Pacific had issued a cautionary from their Honolulu hub, to 26 participating countries. India was not among them.
But such was the level of ignorance that even National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) director Satish R Shetye admits: ''I got to know about the tsunami at around 10 am on Sunday, I was completely taken by surprise.''
The irony could not have been sharper. For, one of the people who helped set up the Pacific Tsunami Warning System and the Canadian Tsunami Warning System three decades ago was a Canada-based Indian, Tad Murty.
''I have tried several times with the Indian government, but they have said they do not have enough money to sustain a full-fledged system,'' Murty told The Indian Express from Manitoba, ''it is largely seen as a Pacific country problem.''
The Indian met office has its own explanations. ''Unless we have computer models, we cannot issue a tsunami warning after every earthquake,'' says R S Dattatrayam, director (seismology), Indian Meteorological Department. Every major earthquake in the ocean does not result in a tsunami.
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Headline: Life cheaper than warning system?
29 Dec: Times of India at http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/973993.cms
Excerpts:
In the end, it was about 90 helpless minutes between the earthquake in Indonesia and the waves hitting India... It is almost criminal to hear the government griping about the "high costs" of joining the tsunami warning system.
It's estimated that joining the tsunami warning system would cost around Rs 1,000 crore. While that does seem steep, contrasting that with the human and economic costs of the tsunami paints a different picture altogether - almost 11,000 priceless human lives, estimates of 30,000 missing, and millions displaced. The economic cost to business alone is estimated at Rs 2,000 crore.
Eddie Fernandes
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----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
I do not see why my (tax payer's) money should go in funding an institute such as NIO (National Institute of Oceonagraphy) if such an all important event about our ocean such as tsumani goes unpredicted by the institute.
This is infinitely more important than trips to Antarctica, and growing algaes.
The Indian govt. should immediately close all institutes related to oceanography
and divert all funds spent in such useless endeavours to relief work.
Dr. Samir Kelekar, Bangalore
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