India will alert its neighbouring countries about possible tsunami hits using its newly-launched tsunami early warning system. "We will alert our neighbouring countries, including Pakistan, of possible tsunami strikes in the event of massive earthquakes," Union Earth Sciences Minister Kapil Sibal said in New Delhi on Wednesday.

However, Sibal said that it would be up to the governments of the respective countries to issue alerts and order evacuations in such a scenario.

On Monday, Sibal dedicated the National Early Warning System for Tsunami [Images] and Storm Surges in the Indian Ocean to the country. The system will generate timely advisories about changes in the sea levels after earthquakes.

India is the first country in the Indian Ocean region to build a tsunami warning system. Indonesia and Australia have been developing their own systems.

"Once these systems are ready, they will be integrated to form the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System," Shailesh Nayak, Director of the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, said.

There are two tsunamigenic zones in India's vicinity -- the Andaman-Sumatra trench in the Bay of Bengal and the Makran coast in the Arabian Sea.

A massive earthquake in the Makran region in 1945 had trigged a tsunami which hit the country's western coast but did not cause much damage as the areas were less populated.

Two bottom pressure recorders, key sensors that indicate the generation of tsunami, have been installed in the Arabian sea off the Gujarat coast, while a set of four BPRs in the Bay of Bengal will act as sentinels against the killer waves.