India Withholds Seismic Data Needed for Tsunami Warning System

Nearly a year after the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami that killed over 100,000 people, Indian officials remain reluctant to share real-time earthquake seismic data with other countries because it could reveal underground nuclear tests. According to a report in the December 22 issue of Nature, "India's offer, announced at the second meeting of the Intergovernmental Coordination Group (ICG) in Hyderabad last week, is limited to data on earthquakes with a magnitude of six and above, along the coast of Indonesia and Pakistan. Signals from nuclear tests would be much weaker than this." At the current rate, Indian Ocean countries working through the ICG will not have the means to detect a tsunami in advance until September 2006 or have a complete warning system in place until late 2008. Nature reports that India "plans to have its warning centre running by September 2007 but says it will not subject itself to the ICG's accreditation process. 'What India is doing is adequate for the entire Indian Ocean region,' says Ramamurthy. 'If any country wants to work with us in tandem we have no problem.'"