Wu Weizheng (reporter): According to reports China has not established a tsunami-warning system yet. Is that true?

Yu Fujiang (deputy director with the marine environmental forecasting office of the National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center under the China State Oceanic Administration): That is not true. As a mater of fact, China has already established a tsunami-warning system. The State Oceanic Administration of China has compiled emergency measures for major marine disasters including tsunami in accordance with the overall arrangement of the State Council. In case of tsunami the National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center under the China State Oceanic Administration will issue tsunami warnings to the disaster-influential areas via the tsunami warning system. At the same time the state will launch emergency program when there is disastrous tsunami.

Reporter: At what level does China have in the research and prediction of tsunami?

Yu: Since 1970s, China has strengthened the research and forecast of tsunami and has achieved many significant results in the areas of the distribution and frequency of tsunami along the coastal areas of the country. In 1983, China took part in the International Pacific Tsunami Warning System. Since then the National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center under the China State Oceanic Administration has started the tsunami-warning work. The Administration has established a great number of ocean monitoring and buoy stations on the coastal islands with the basic capacity of providing tsunami warnings.

In late 1990s the Administration also developed the Pacific tsunami database, the prediction module for the numerical value of tsunami in the Pacific Ocean. The module has been applied to the five nuclear power plants including the Dayawan Nuclear Power Plant in Guangdong province, the Qinshan Nuclear plant in Zhejiang province and the Hui'an Nuclear Power Plant in Fujian province. After the Indian Ocean tsunami, the National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center quickly organized experts to carry out numerical simulation of the whole tsunami process.

Reporter: What impact does the tsunami have on the coastal areas of China?

Yu: China is situated at the west bank of the Pacific Ocean with a shoreline measuring 18,000 kilometers. The tsunami has a little influence on the coastal areas due to the holding back by the Ryukyu Islands and the Southeast Asian countries and the broad continental shelf.

Since the founding of new China three times of tsunami have been monitored in the coastal areas of China. The first is the tsunami occurred on July 18, 1969 in the middle of the Bohai Sea caused by a strong earthquake with a magnitude of 7.4 bringing a certain losses to Tangshan, Hebei province. The second is the tsunami occurred on January 1-2, 1992 at the southern tip of the Hainan Island. The tidal height was 0.78 meters measured by Yulin Tidal Gauge Station while the tidal height was 0.5-0.8 meters at the Sanya port, causing certain losses. The third was occurred at the Taiwan Straits in 1994 with no losses.

Reporter: I have heard that it is hard to make tsunami prediction, isn't it?

Yu: It is very hard to have tsunami prediction. The main reasons include: the current technology prevents people from making accurate submarine earthquake prediction. In addition to that not all underwater earthquakes can foment tsunami. Only about a quarter of submarine (with a magnitude of above 7) earthquakes can cause tsunami. At the same time, it is very hard to accurately obtain the initial earthquake parameter and the parameter of tsunami source after tsunami.

Reporter: In what areas does China need to strengthen warnings?

Yu: After the Indian Ocean tsunami, the Administration swiftly launched the relevant researches and suggested the related departments in the country cooperate with each other; continue to strengthen the monitoring and warning capacity of tsunami disasters; improve emergency plans for tsunami and establish a mechanism for rapid communication so as to do a good job on prevention and reduction of tsunami disasters; carry out tsunami risk evaluation; work out an inundation map for the serious disastrous areas caused by tsunami and place emphasis on the research of basic theories and warning techniques; strengthen the technical cooperation and research of tsunami with developed countries, take an active part in the cooperative activities of tsunami prediction with other countries and play a role as a member of the International Pacific Tsunami Warning System; carry out educational publicity on preventing tsunami disasters and legality building, and hold exercises on preventing and reducing tsunami disasters in the serious tsunami areas so that the losses caused by tsunami can be reduced.

By People's Daily Online