Hon Speaker, the ANC welcomes the step taken by 18 countries bordering the Indian Ocean, including South Africa, by taking part in an exercise to test a tsunami early warning system on Wednesday, 14 October 2009.
This is dubbed Exercise Indian Ocean Wave 09 by the United Nations. This UN- backed initiative will simulate a warning for a tsunami similar to the 2004 wave which killed more than 300 000 people. The exercise was aimed at testing alarm procedures and overall preparedness of countries along the Indian Ocean.
This was the first comprehensive test and evaluation of the warning system. The test came two weeks after a tsunami smashed into the Pacific islands of Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga, killing about 183 people.
The ANC hopes that the success of this exercise will play a major role in saving human life as the hottest temperatures ever have been measured in the last decade, as have the most intense storms as well as the most destructive floods and the longest lasting drought, all of which jeopardise human settlement, livelihood and infrastructure, particularly in the low- lying coastal areas. Thank you.