Summit in quake-surviving Kobe brings nations together to work out prevention plans.

A five-day international disaster reduction conference that starts Tuesday in the quake-surviving city of Kobe has drawn wider prominence after the Dec. 26 tsunami in the Indian Ocean.

Governments of more than 45 countries joining the World Conference on Disaster Reduction are sending ministers, all intent on setting up a tsunami early-warning system in the ravaged region, organizers said over the weekend.

That's nearly double the 25 countries who in late December told the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction panel and the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo that they would send their top officials.

More than 800 delegates from 191 countries and regions will be in attendance.

With nongovernmental organizations and international agencies added, total participants will likely reach 3,000.

Among countries affected by the tsunami, Bangladesh is sending its disaster management minister.

Jakarta and Colombo are also arranging to send key ministers.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's opening speech will emphasize this country's experience in dealing with natural disasters and its intention to lead efforts to set up an early warning system.

The conference will also be a forum for academics and government administrators to discuss aspects of disaster reduction.

High-level sessions will be held on the sidelines to discuss the basic outline of the tsunami early-warning system for the Indian Ocean.

Koichi Matsuura, director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, said that the tsunami alert mechanism should be in place around the Indian Ocean by June 2006.

He added that UNESCO aims to see a global warning network set up one year after that.(IHT/Asahi: January 17,2005)