The United States on Friday announced in Washington a plan to expand its tsunami detection and warning system to protect not only the Pacific coast, but also the Atlantic, the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico coasts.

Under the 37.5-million-US-dollar plan, the existing tsunami warning system in the Pacific would be expanded, and similar systems would be set up by mid-2007 for the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico coasts, officials of the White House science office said.

"This plan will enable enhanced monitoring, detection, warning and communications that will protect lives and property in the United States and a significant part of the world," said John H. Marburger, the president's science advisor and director of the office of science and technology policy.

The United States currently has a tsunami warning system that consists of six deep-sea detection buoys and other sensors and provide protection to the western coasts of Canada and the United States and 25 other countries bordering the Pacific.

Under the plan, 32 new deep-ocean tsunami assessment and reporting buoys would be installed, for a fully operational tsunami warning system by mid-2007.

Twenty-five buoys would be added in the Pacific Ocean, including two as back-ups, from the tip of South America to Alaska,East Asia and New Zealand, five new ones would be installed in theAtlantic Ocean and two in the Caribbean Sea.

The buoys would be connected to pressure recorders below the ocean floor, and data would be relayed by satellite to scientists.

The new system will provide the United States with nearly 100 percent detection capabilities for a US coastal tsunami, allowing response within minutes, and expand monitoring capabilities throughout the entire Pacific and Caribbean basins, providing tsunami warning for regions bordering half of the world's oceans, Marburger said.

The system, however, would not cover the Indian Ocean, where an earthquake spawned a tsunami last month killing more than 157,000 people in Southeast Asia, South Asia and East Africa. The United Nations plans to launch a permanent tsunami warning system for that region by June 2006.

Tsunamis are large ocean waves caused by an underwater earthquake or volcanic eruption and can strike coastlines thousands of kilometers away.

Source: Xinhua