57 percent of Indonesia's shores vulnerable to tsunamis

Antara 12 Nov 08;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Some 57 percent of Indonesia's coastline, or 46,170 km, of the total length of 81,000 km, are prone to a tsunami attack.

The data came from the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency during the inaguration of a Tsunami Early Warning System (TEWS) at the BMG office here Tuesday.

After an earthquake followed by a tsunami in Aceh on December 26, 2004, the need for an early warning system had become increasingly urgent.

Therefore, on November 11, 2008, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono launched a TEWS which was built under a cooperation between the Indonesian government and 18 state enterprises.

The financial and technological aspects of the project were taken care of by Germany, China, Japan, the US and France. (*)