Indonesia Tsunami Early Warning System: An Overview

The catastrophic tsunami hitting Indonesia in 2004 has given a hard lesson to the country. Therefore, the government set up an early warning system to avoid similar catastrophes in the future. Over the years, the Indonesia Tsunami Early Warning System (InaTEWS) has experienced some improvements.

Now, this system is modern enough to provide timely tsunami detection and warning dissemination. In setting up and improving InaTEWS, the Indonesian government worked with UNESCO and partners from Indonesia, Germany, and other countries.

An Overview of the Indonesia Tsunami Early Warning System

In less than a year after the 2004 tsunami, the government of Indonesia started to make efforts to develop a tsunami early warning system. Their first effort was installing buoys near Sumatra. In making this effort, the government got assistance from Germany. In 2008, the government finally officially launched InaTEWS. 

The Indonesian government built the tsunami early warning system with the objectives of detecting natural signs potentially triggering tsunamis, finding earthquake epicenters, identifying areas affected by tsunamis, predicting the damage caused by tsunamis, and minimizing death tolls.

To reach those objectives the government equipped the Indonesia Tsunami Warning System with the following components.

1. Observation Systems

InaTEWS has two observation systems. They are land observation and ocean observation systems. The former consists of a seismic network. Equipment used in this network are 160 broadband seismometers and 500 accelerometers.

The seismic network will collect earthquake data and send it to the InaTEWS center. Seismologists will analyze the data to identify whether or not the earthquake triggered a tsunami. This network can detect earthquake epicenter and magnitude within 3 minutes after the first shake. 

Meanwhile, the ocean observation system contains 22 buoys and 80 tide gauges. These sensors will detect changes in the ocean water surface after an earthquake. After that, this system sends the data to the InaTEWS center.  

2. Analytical Systems

The analytical systems consist of 10 regional centers and one national center. The government equipped these centers with advanced operating systems, such as the decision support system (DSS). Moreover, professional and experienced seismologists are working in those centers.

Regional centers and the national center will get data from buoys, tide gauges, and the seismic network. After getting this data, the decision support system will analyze the information.

After that, the DSS will provide seismologists with suggestions on tsunami warnings. Seismologists will use those recommendations when making a tsunami warning in Indonesia. 

3. Telecommunication Systems

The Indonesia Tsunami Early Warning System has 3 satellite-based telecommunication systems with VSAT IP. They are LIBRA systems, Reftec systems, and CSM systems. 

Those communication systems will deliver data from observation systems to the InaTEWS centers. InaTEWS also has several partners for disseminating tsunami warnings. 

They are local governments, the police department, and other government agencies. When an earthquake triggers a tsunami, InaTEWS will contact them and ask them to send a tsunami alert. 

After that, these partners will broadcast the warning to the public. The telecommunication methods used in disseminating the tsunami alert are SMS broadcasts, sirens, radio broadcasts, and TV channel broadcasts.

InaTEWS Failure in 2018

InaTEWS works effectively almost all the time. However, in 2018, this system failed to give a tsunami warning to people in Pangandaran coastal areas. In December 2018, a tsunami swept those coastal areas without a warning.

Consequently, over 400 people died in this disaster. Why did InaTEWS not issue a warning at that time? It turned out that the system could only detect tsunamis caused by vertical ground movements from earthquakes. 

Meanwhile, the 2018 Pangandaran tsunami was triggered by a landslide from the eruption of Anak Krakatau Volcano. After this disaster, the Indonesian government evaluated and enhanced InaTEWS. Thankfully, together with project partners from Germany, the government could improve this system.

New Strategy to Improve InaTEWS

InaTEWS is an excellent system. It uses modern technologies to detect tsunami signs accurately and broadcast tsunami warnings rapidly. However, one of its communication methods is rather old-fashioned.

This method is the SMS broadcast. It is not effective because it relies on cellular services and cannot quickly reach people in the affected areas. Therefore, the Indonesian government must consider replacing this communication method with cell broadcast technology.

The cell broadcast can disseminate a tsunami warning to thousands of people in seconds. Moreover, it can reach more people because it broadcasts an alert to all mobile phones within its radius via radio cell frequencies.

The Indonesia Tsunami Early Warning System is excellent in detecting tsunami signs and disseminating warnings. However, the Indonesian government can improve its effectiveness in broadcasting alerts by adopting cell broadcast technology. Visit smsbroadcaster.com now to get the best cell broadcast machine.