Germany plans to take a leading role in setting up a tsunami early warning system for the Indian Ocean within three years, the German Education and Research Ministry said Saturday.

"Germany should take the lead in establishing a tsunami warning system in South Asia," the ministry said.

"With our concept, we will be able to come up with an effective system within one to three years at a cost of 40 million euros (52 million dollars)," Research Minister Edelgard Bulmahn told daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine.

Germany plans to set up 30 to 40 new seismological observation stations in the Indian Ocean region, Bulmahn said, adding that together with other donor nations, some 250 new stations could later be added to the network.

The ministry has asked the Potsdam-based Geophysical Research Center (GFZ) to draw up a plan for an early warning system.

In the event of an earthquake, a warning would be posted on the Internet within minutes and e-mails and mobile phone text messages sent automatically to all users in the network.

Source: Xinhua