Florida Governor Jeb Bush, the brother of President Bush, and World Bank President James Wolfensohn also will attend the meeting in Jakarta, organized by the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations in the aftermath of the Dec. 26 disaster.
"Indonesia and other neighboring countries plan to set up an early warning to prevent natural disasters, including earthquake and tsunamis," Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said yesterday. His country suffered more than 90,000 of the estimated 150,000 deaths from the earthquake and killer waves.
With aid and relief workers pouring into devastated nations, the focus of Thursday's summit will be on rebuilding communities and ensuring that coastal communities will be warned the next time an earthquake unleashes tsunamis.
A current tsunami warning system links 26 Pacific Ocean nations. If it had been expanded to the Indian Ocean coastal countries, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration might have been able to warn them, the agency's chief, Conrad C. Lautenbacher Jr., said last week.
Among the 11 nations affected by the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami, only Indonesia received any warning from NOAA, and then only indirectly through Australia.
Thailand is pushing hard for the system, which it believes will offer peace of mind to the millions of foreign tourists on which its economy depends.
Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai suggested that a part of the money pledged to the relief effort from around the world should go to setting up a warning system.
"One of the topics Thailand would like to emphasize is how countries in the area and countries that have been affected can work together to set up a mechanism for an early warning system and monitoring system," Surakiart said. "As a famous tourist resort of the world, we will have to increase the awareness of the tourists and also the security of the tourists," he said.
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said her country, which was spared the disaster but was still recovering from recent deadly storms and typhoons, will declare Friday a national day of prayer and mourning for the tsunami victims.
She said the regional summit and donors' conference "is urgent and significant not only to step up the international humanitarian response to the multinational disaster, but to enhance regional disaster preparedness through a consolidated information sharing and early warning system."
The Philippines operates its own early warning system, but Arroyo said it needs to be updated and linked to similar systems in Hawaii, Japan, and China. She said she will be accompanied by officials of the National Disaster Coordinating Council, the health department, and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
Powell said the conference will be an opportunity to iron out problems in coordinating aid and recovery efforts. "But right now I would say things are going exceptionally well when you consider we're only eight days into this . . . crisis," he said.
