The Indian Ocean Tsunami Early Warning System

Before and after the Banda Ache Tsunami

UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) is coordinating an international effort to create an early warning system for the Indian Ocean, that will ameliorate the damage from future tsunamis. it is one of the few good results of the tsunami that devastated ocean front areas around the Indian Ocean on December 28, 2004.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is funding a two-year, $16.6 million U.S. Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System (US IOTWS) Program in support of the IOC effort. It is being implemented by a USAID-led consortium of five U.S. government agencies.. More than 100 U.S.-funded experts and scientists
worked on the project.

Read about the USAID project in Frontlines
(PDF, page 9)