METMALAYSIA UPGRADES FOUR SAATNM IN PENANG, FASTER TSUNAMI WARNING

GEORGE TOWN, April 23 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Meteorological Department (METMalaysia) has upgraded four Malaysian Tsunami Early Warning Systems (SAATNM) located at four locations near the sea in Penang.

Senior Assistant Director of Penang METMalaysia Office Fadila Jasmin Fakaruddin said the upgraded SAATNM is equipped with better features including 360-degree speakers compared to only three speaker mouthpieces previously.

She said the four locations are at the National Training Centre at Pasir Panjang Beach in Balik Pulau, Teluk Bahang Fisheries Development Authority Jetty, Masjid Jamek Ar Rahman in Batu Feringghi and the Tanjung Bungah Floating Mosque.

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"METMalaysia is upgrading the four SAATNMs because the old one under phase one, has been in use since 2006. The upgraded one has a 360-degree speaker system, a higher mast of 16 metres compared to the previous 10 metres and several other things.

"Today we are testing the new tsunami siren system for the Site Acceptance Test (SAT) at the Masjid Jamek Ar-Rahman location and everything went smoothly," she said when met by Bernama after conducting the SAATNM siren test at Masjid Jamek Ar-Rahman near here today.

Fadila Jasmin said her party had tested the SAATNM siren in Teluk Bahang on Monday, Balik Pulau yesterday and it will continue at the Tanjung Bungah Floating Mosque tomorrow.

"We hope that by upgrading the SAATNM, we can provide faster warnings to the public in the sea area if there is any tsunami threat," she said.

Meanwhile, the Safety and Health manager of Park Royal Resort Batu Ferringhi, V. Mohan, who was also present to see the testing of the SAATNM siren, is confident that the upgraded system can provide information about tsunami warnings faster, to guests of hotels located about 300 metres from the mosque.

"We can alert and take action (immediately) and the new loudspeaker is also very clear and can be heard all the way to the hotel, which I have heard before, but I think this is clearer," he said.

SAATNM is able to channel earthquake information to the public within eight minutes after being detected by the sensor.

It also plays a role in detecting earthquakes that occur in the region and subsequently issuing earthquake information as well as advice or warnings if it has the potential to generate tsunami waves.

-- BERNAMA