REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, KUPANG -- The entire province of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) is vulnerable to earthquakes and tsunamis. Chief of the Maritime Meteorology Center of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Nelly Florida Riama made the remarks at a meeting with a delegation of the House of Representatives Commission V and NTT, Vice Governor Josef Nae Soi, in the meeting room of the NTT governor's office.
"NTT belongs to regions that are prone to earthquakes and tsunamis. As a matter of fact, a tsunami once hit Flores island (in the province)," she stated here on Thursday.
The BMKG is in the process of preparing tsunami early warning systems to be installed in a number of areas in the province, she noted. The tsunami early warning systems installed in various parts of the country have been replaced by new ones to issue early warnings in case of natural disasters, she remarked.
The agency has mapped all earthquake-and tsunami-prone areas across the country, including NTT, she added.
On the maritime side, the BMKG has set up a maritime post in Tenau port in the provincial capital of Kupang to give early warnings about maritime weather as well as weather conditions in NTT waters, she explained.
"The maritime post is also a manifestation of the BMKG's support for the plan to upgrade the status of Tenau port in Kupang into an international port," he revealed.