2wcom Role in Tsunami Warnings

By Doug Lung
published

Indonesian authorities have installed and successfully tested a new tsunami early warning system incorporating 2wcom FM-RDS Multi-Hazard Public Warning Receivers.

During the Tsunami Bali Drill, held last December in southern Bali, a 2wcom receiver was placed on a chair on Sindhu Beach and powered by battery only.

Real-time warnings were sent from Jakarta to radios at the beach command post via subcarriers of the Radio Republik Indonesia's FM channels. After the imaginary underwater earthquake and the sound of a tsunami siren, drill officials evacuated people to Made Pica stadium.

With the new system, when special offshore buoys detect the approach of a possible tsunami, an emergency warning is broadcast nationwide on RRI, interrupting regular programming.

The December drill involved several thousand people at Sindhu Beach and Sanur Beach. The test was part of events marking the second anniversary of the 2004 tsunami that killed an estimated 167,000 people in Indonesia and displaced more than a half million people. Thousands more were killed throughout the Indian Ocean basin.

(Radio World)

Doug Lung
Doug Lung

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack.
A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.