First Rimes Ministerial Conference Inaugurated at New Delhi

The First Ministerial Conference on the Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (RIMES) for Africa and Asia was inaugurated at New Delhi on June 21.  The meeting is being attended by Ministers/Ambassadors/ Representatives of RIMES Member States.

            RIMES owes its existence to a proposal by the Royal Thai Government to the Special ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting on 6^th January 2005 and subsequently to the Phuket Ministerial Meeting on Tsunami Early Warning Arrangement in January 2005, to establish a tsunami early warning system in a multi-hazard framework for Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean.  For the last 3-years, RIMES has been built as an international and intergovernmental institution owned by the member countries, to operate and manage regional early warning arrangements through suitable financial mechanisms for sustaining its activities.

Inaugurating the conference, the Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences  Vilas Rao Deshmukh said that India is leading the establishment of this very important regional technical cooperation platform called RIMES focusing on building state of the art monitoring, detection, early warning of other multi-hazards. 

            The Minister highlighted the areas of collaboration between RIMES and the Government of India on-going through national institutions like NCMRWF, Noida and INCOIS, Hyderabad.  He reiterated the continued support of Government of India in the institutional development of RIMES, and in providing resources for RIMES to meet the needs and demands of Member States.

Deshmukh announced that funding proposals of RIMES to be implemented in Myanmar, Mongolia, Maldives, Philippines, Nepal and Bhutan are under active consideration for full support.  He said that one of the mechanisms identified is a funding support from Government of India to RIMES to address priorities identified by RIMES Member States and Collaborating Countries.

Highlighting the areas in which India could share its expertise to RIMES Member Countries, the Minister identified special areas in which the Indian experience could be shared.  They include:

• Expertise of India in building agro-meteorological advisory services to minimize the impact of adverse weather conditions on food production.
• Fishing zone advisory system for the benefit of the coastal fishermen about fish abundance locations along with local weather conditions and sea state.
• The totally indigenous and environmental friendly Low Temperature Thermal Desalination (LTTD) technology for conversion of sea water into potable safe drinking water.
• Various satellite based multi-sensor payload based products over the data sparse regions of Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal for enhancing the quality of meteorological and oceanic services rendered to various sectors of the economy.
• Providing satellite derived products for real time monitoring of adverse weather conditions.

 13 Member States:

 Bangladesh, Cambodia, Comoros, India, Lao PDR, Maldives, Mongolia, Mozambique, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Seychelles, Sri Lanka and Timor-Leste.

18 Collaborating Countries:

 Afghanistan, Armenia, Bhutan, China, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Somalia, Tanzania, Thailand, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Yemen.

About RIMES:

The Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System for Africa and Asia (RIMES) is an international and intergovernmental institution, owned and managed by its Member States, for the generation and application of early warning information. RIMES evolved from the efforts of countries in Africa and Asia, in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, to establish a regional early warning system within a multi-hazard framework for the generation and communication of early warning information, and capacity building for preparedness and response to trans-boundary hazards. RIMES was established on 30 April 2009, and was registered with the United Nations on 1 July 2009. RIMES operates from its regional early warning center located at the campus of the Asian Institute of Technology in Pathumthani, Thailand.