Disaster conference prepares to give UN lead on tsunami warning system
 

  
A global conference on disaster reduction was Friday hashing out the final language of a joint statement after agreeing to put the United Nations in charge of building a tsunami warning system to go in place next year.
Delegates to the meeting of 150 countries in Kobe, Japan worked into Thursday night and were locked in closed-door discussions Friday on a declaration expected to set goals on how to reduce risks in catastrophes such as last month's Asian tsunamis.
With the five-day conference closing Saturday, people with access to the session said the biggest issue was sorted out: the United Nations would take the lead in building a tsunami warning system.

But one difference reported to remain was how specific the language of the final document should be. One Western diplomat said that most countries hit by the tsunamis had hurriedly sent delegations to Kobe and were concerned about being forced by donor countries to make financial commitments.Another issue reported to remain was what language to use to address climate change. The United States, which has rejected the Kyoto protocol which requires gas emission cuts, had gone on record opposing references to global warming in the final declaration.
Salvano Briceno, head of the UN disaster reduction group leading the conference, indicated Thursday that a compromise had been reached with climate change to be mentioned only once.
Briceno said there was broad agreement for the United Nations to be in charge of building a tsunami early warning system amid competing proposals from donor nations to put their technology to work in the Indian Ocean.
He said work could begin to get the system running in 12 to 18 months with more than eight million dollars pledged by donors for the project - half of it from Japan.
 
 
 
  Delegates here have pledged that the project would only form part of the long-term effort to have a reliable global system to forewarn and reduce risks in all kinds of natural disasters. Japan and Germany have both been promoting their own technology to predict Indian Ocean tsunamis.
The United States, which has a tsunami research center in Hawaii, has called for the Pacific system to be extended to the Indian Ocean, while Australia has said the system should build on existing resources in the region.
India, the third worst-hit tsunami country, has meanwhile stressed that it is already at work on a tsunami warning system and said it was ready to share with its neighbors.