An AFP report states that:
UN Under Secretary Patricio Bernal said Egeland and former US president Bill Clinton had taken to task government officials from countries in the Indian Ocean in a closed-door meeting here in a bid to speed up the process. “We are not worried about the technical side. At the moment we have 17 sensors in the Indian Ocean and by July we will have 23. If anything happens tonight, somebody will be there to move an alert,” he told AFP.
“What we are afraid of is whether this information will flow down. The countries have not done enough. There is a lack of political will,” he said. He praised Sri Lanka for setting up siren systems and drilling school children, but said all efforts needed to be directed from the highest political office in every country to avoid confusion when a climate disaster strikes.
When the Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights was asked a direct question on the progress that had been made on early warning systems, in the direct presence of the President and on live TV, he talked about plans and preparations rather than sirens and drills. This suggests that both the President and the Minister are unaware of these exemplary activities, as are we.
Therefore, information is sought of the precise locations and modes of operation of these siren systems and the nature and prevalence of the school drills so that wider publicity can be given to these activities.
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