The Minister for Defence has stressed that in times of a disaster, those responsible for issuing warnings should use the information they have if they know it is from a credible source.
Ratu Epeli Ganulau was responding to concerns raised by the
Chairman of the Fiji Tsunami Working Group, Weather Office Director Rajendra Prasad on the delays from the Mineral Resources Department in issuing a tsunami warning to the general public this morning.
Prasad said his office received the first tsunami warning bulletin at 6:04am. The earthquake occurred at 5:48am near American Samoa, following which they tried to contact the Mineral Resources department, which is responsible to issue Tsunami warnings for Fiji however, they could not reach anyone to issue the warning as the Director is out of the country and the phones to the Seismologists were diverted.
The first public warning notice received by Fijivillage news from DISMAC was at 5 minutes to 8 although we managed to obtain the warning from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre just after 6:30am.
However Ratu Epeli said with the information they have at hand, priority should have been given to warning the public.
Meanwhile Prasad said they are currently in talks to shift the responsibility of issuing Tsunami warnings to his office to ensure a quick response.
Prasad stresses that they don't want to impede on the responsibility of another department but quick action is needed as peoples’ lives are at risk.
Warnings can be issued from credible source
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