World leaders, special envoys and heads of regional as well as international organizations here on Thursday agreed to establish a regional early warning system such as Regional Tsunami Early Warning Center on the Indian Ocean and the Southeast Asia region.

As the international community is still struggling to comprehend what happened on Dec. 26, 2004, the rising death toll daily has drawn them to this worst-hit country to discuss the way forward to prevent the reoccurrence of such "an unprecedented, global catastrophe."

The consensus was reached at the end of the Special ASEAN Leaders' Meeting on Aftermath of Earthquake and Tsunami in heavily-guarded Jakarta.

The meeting was held under the auspices of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

After almost around-the-clock shuttle diplomacy and intensive discussions before and during the one-day international emergency summit, they issued the Declaration on Action to Strengthen Emergency Relief, Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Prevention on the Aftermath of Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster.

Before wrapping up the 11th day since the tidal waves hit Asia and Africa, they agreed to support ASEAN's decision to establish regional mechanisms on disaster prevention and mitigation.

They threw their support to promote public education and awareness as well as community participation in disaster prevention and mitigation through inter alia a community based disaster preparedness and early response.

They also agreed to develop and promote national and regional human and institutional capacity, transfer of know-how, technology, and scientific knowledge in building and managing a regional early warning system and disaster management through international cooperation and partnership.

The gigantic tidal waves, which swept across the coastlines of Indian Ocean rim countries, followed a great underwater earthquake off Indonesia's Sumatra island.

The natural disaster has claimed some 145,000 lives in a dozen countries in Asia and Africa.

And Kofi Annan said in speech delivered at the opening session that the exact magnitude of how many men, women and children perished on Dec. 26 may never be known and the real figure is likely to exceed 150,000.

Some experts have said that the death toll could have been lower if there had been an tsunami early warning system, such as the one established among Pacific nations.

In the meeting, the affected countries including Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and India made their presentations to donor countries to give them a clearer picture of what kind of aid is needed to match their needs.

The UN chief said at least half a million people were injured, more than one million people are displaced, nearly 2 million people need food aid, and many more need water, sanitation and health care.

He said millions in Asia, Africa, and even in far away countries are suffering unimaginable trauma and psychological wounds that will take a long time to heal. 
 
(Xinhua News Agency January 6, 2004)