Mumbai:
The government is setting up a `National Early Warning System for Tsunami and
Storm Surges in Indian Ocean and the system is scheduled to be operational by
the end of September 2007. An interim warning centre is already working at Indian
National Centre for Ocean information Services, Hyderabad, on a 24x7 basis, union
minister for science & technology and earth sciences Kapil Sibal informed
the Lok Sabha. The
National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP) has been drawn up with a view
to address cyclone hazard risks in 13 cyclone prone coastal states/UTs, including
Tamil Nadu. The cyclone warning system is already functional and cyclone warnings
are being provided by India Meteorological Department for all the coastal regions
of the country. Sibal
was responding to questions about reported sea water ingress into the coastal
villages of Tamil Nadu following the Tsunami in 2004. He
said there is a proposal to set up an institute to study the impact of global
warming/climatic changes etc. Experts from the ministry of earth sciences (MoES)
working on climate change and representatives from all the concerned ministries,
non-governmental organisations, and academic and scientific institutions, have
suggested a coordinated research programme on climate change, Sibal said, adding,
the programme will be launched to study all associated science aspects of climate
change viz. carbon and nitrogen cycles, Asian Brown Cloud (ABC) etc. As
part of climate change programme, there is a proposal for the establishment of
a dedicated centre to undertake research on science aspects of climate change
at Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune.
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