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U.S. Supports Development of a Global, All-Hazards Warning System with UNESCO
Excerpts from remarks by Ambassador Anne W. Patterson, Deputy U.S. Representative to the United Nations, on the South Asia Tsunami, to the General Assembly, January 18, 2005

"...The United States strongly supports a global warning system, conducted under the aegis of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems - or GEOSS. We encourage nations interested in developing a global tsunami warning system to do so through the GEOSS consortium of 54 nations to develop the technical and data-handling aspects of such a system. GEOSS is particularly important because it is an already-existing framework for international coordination, and deals with data-sharing and availability issues. The United States encourages all nations to operate within the GEOSS framework, building on its existing, promising, multilateral format.

Any development of a regional warning system should be part of an integrated global system. An internationally-coordinated tsunami warning system already exists in the Pacific Ocean, UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission Tsunami Warning System. The implementation of a global warning system should be carried out by expanding the existing UNESCO tsunami warning system in the Pacific Ocean into the Indian Ocean and anywhere coastal communities are threatened by tsunamis. Within this global design, the United States believes that the development of an Indian Ocean part of the global warning system should be a top, near-term priority.

...The United States is committed to working with international partners to develop and improve such a system. At the third Earth Observation Summit in Brussels on February 16, 2005, the United States will present our preliminary plan for a global tsunami detection and warning system. This plan will be consistent with the points I have made here, namely: the United States supports the development of a global, all-hazards warning system, conducted under the aegis of GEOSS and building on the existing UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission Tsunami Warning System in the Pacific."
 

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