An early warning system that might have prevented some deaths in the tsunami that hit an Indonesian island last week has been stalled in the testing phase for years.
The network of seafloor sensors, data-laden sound waves and fibre-optic cable was meant to replace a system set up after an earthquake and tsunami killed nearly 250,000 people in the region in 2004.
AP has reported “inter-agency wrangling” and delays in finishing the project meant it had not moved further than the prototype stage, initially set up with $3 million worth of assistance from the US National Science Foundation.
