By Prensa Latina,
Tokyo : Japan will soon have a state-of-the-art mechanism that will reinforce its early tsunami alert system, according to the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO).
That will be possible thanks to an agreement signed on Monday in Austria by Japan and the CTBTO, which will allow Tokyo to access a network made up of 337 underground, underwater and atmospheric cells to detect possible nuclear tests.
According to Japanese Ambassador to Austria Yukika Amano, the Vienna-based organization decided to use its system to detect tsunamis, after one such a phenomenon killed nearly 220,000 people in Southeast Asia in December 2004.
“This will allow us to receive accurate and quick information to activate an early alert,” Amano noted.
CTBTO Director Tibor Toth said the agreement with Tokyo, the first of its kind signed with a member country, would be followed by similar accords with Austria, Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia.
The new system will allow Japan to receive trustworthy and accurate information on a possible tsunami in 30 seconds.