PETALING JAYA: Three deep-water buoys worth RM7.2 million, used to gather data for an early tsunami warning system, were disposed of as they were no longer functioning.
The installation of the Norway-made equipment was done in phases since 2006 at three locations — the Andaman Sea, Sulu Sea and South China Sea.
The buoy placement was to detect early tectonic plate movements under the sea, which lead to the formation of tsunamis.
The tsunami buoy project, or tsunametre, is the result of Malaysia-Indonesia collaboration following the 2004 Aceh earthquake, which killed more than 230,000 people from 14 nations, including Malaysia.
However, a buoy — located 500km from Langkawi and 60km from Bandar Acheh, Indonesia, in the Andaman Sea, which was placed on Dec 30, 2005 — was found not to have transmitted data every 15 minutes, as it should.
Further investigations revealed the equipment was lost from its original location.
Another buoy — placed near Layang-Layang Island, Sabah, near the South China Sea, on March 7, 2006 — suffered the same fate.
The million-plus ringgit buoy was designated as being lost, either dragged away by sea currents or through vandalism.
The third tsunami buoy — installed near Sipadan Island, Sabah, near the Sulu Sea in 2010 — was no longer used after it exploded during maintenance on the MV Pendamar vessel. The incident, which killed Norwegian head engineer Stig Erik Lyng, 53, took place when he was trying to open one of the buoy’s black screws with a drill. It caused an explosion.
Malaysia Meteorology Department director-general Alui Bahari said the buoy’s main contractor, Astronautic Technology (M) Sdn Bhd (ATSB), was forced to dispose of the buoy following cabinet approval.
The approval to dispose of the buoys was due to multiple factors such as maintenance cost, effectiveness and durability in its long-term operation.
He said that the buoys — each costing RM3 million — transmitted data via Immarsat C satellite via a telemetry system every 15 minutes.
However, this duration would be shortened to every minute when the buoys go into the Tsunami Mode after detecting unusual waves.
“This function is necessary to save battery power, whereby it would only be actively sending data every minute to MMD when the system records tsunami waves.
“Due to the equipment’s position in the middle of the sea, the twice-a-year maintenance is costly, almost reaching RM500,000, besides being exposed to risks of vandalism, theft, damage from exposure to sea water, or drifting by powerful currents.”
Alui said as a result, the buoys’ role and function were taken over by an alternative system, which combined tide gauges, coastal cameras and siren system that are being installed in stages nationwide.