An early warning centre to provide timely information on oceanic disasters like tsunami will be set up in Hyderabad by September 2007.

A meeting of the cabinet committee on economic affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh [Images], on Thursday approved setting up of an early warning system for mitigation of oceanic disasters like tsunami and storm surges in the Indian Ocean, Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters in New Delhi.

'Tsunami warning system in India by 2007'

Estimated to cost Rs 125 crore, the centre, to be set up at Hyderabad's Indian National Ocean Information Services, would disseminate information to coastal habitations within a 100-kilometre radius within five minutes, which is the international benchmark of such systems prevailing in Japan [Images] and Chile.