Japan prepare to give tsunami warning

Japan is set to give tsunami warning data to six countries in the northwest Pacific, three months after the Boxing Day tsunami.

About 300,000 people died in the tsunami that followed a magnitude 9 undersea earthquake off Indonesia on December 26, focusing attention on the importance of international warning systems for tsunamis and other natural disasters.

Japan's Meteorological Agency will give tsunami-related data to Russia, South Korea, China, the Philippines, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea if an earthquake measuring magnitude 6.5 or greater occurs in a northwestern part of the Pacific Ocean near Japan and such countries.

"This will provide a reference for strengthening measures against disasters and have the benefit of decreasing damage from tsunamis," said Akira Nagai, deputy director at the agency's earthquake and tsunami observations division.