Myanmar has been selected with its coastal region to be included in five areas in Southeast Asia (SEA) where the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) projects to build tsunami-warning centers, a local weekly reported in its latest issue.

Quoting the UNDP, the Myanmar Times said the warning centers would be operational by late December this year, the first anniversary of the Dec. 26, 2004 tsunami that swept across coastal areas of the Indian Ocean killing over 200,000 people.

Monitoring towers will be built off Myanmar coast along with those of Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines with the assistance of the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center, the report said.

The new such centers in SEA region will link disaster monitoring system of other Indian Ocean rim countries such as Australia, the report added.

In late March, Myanmar set up its national tsunami warning center and is expected to be fully operational in three years.

Earlier this year, in a bid to strengthen its tsunami warning system, Myanmar also set up a national committee for natural disaster prevention and resettlement that involves many ministries.

Although Myanmar was not much affected by last Dec. 26 tsunami that smashed across the Indian Ocean compared with other South and Southeast Asian nations, officially reported death tolls stood at 64 with 56 injured in coastal areas. The tidal wave destroyed over 600 houses in 29 villages, leaving 3,460 people homeless in some of the regions in six divisions and states — Tanintharyi, Yangon, Bago, Ayeyawaddy, Rakhine and Shan (South).

In the post-tsunami period, Myanmar has been undertaking a coastal storm and tidal surge forecast project for improved weather prediction services. The project, being implemented with the assistance of the Honolulu-based PACON International (the Pacific Congress on Marine Science Technology), involves the utilization of numerical prediction method to provide advance warning of storm and tidal surge.

Besides, the Myanmar Meteorology and Hydrology Department (MHD) is also strengthening its public information work about natural disaster and climate change by planning to produce a series of documentaries to raise public awareness against such unpredictable mishap to help manage disaster.