German Research Minister Edelgard Bulmahn said on Thursday that her country is considering to offer a tidal wave warning system to South and Southeast countries hit by the Dec. 26  fatal tsunami.

Emerging from a meeting with German researchers, the minister said, "We want to make a contribution, so that people in such natural catastrophes can be warned in time and also help to save their lives."

She said Germany would promote the system, which was developed by German scientists with the Geophysical Research Center in Potsdam, eastern Germany.

The alert system, which is composed of a number of sea monitoring stations, could be put into operation within three years, according to the minister.

Bulmahn said the fund needed for building the system could come from the 500-million-euro aid package the German government has earmarked for the disaster-hit region.

The Indian Ocean earthquake off Indonesia's Sumatra island and subsequent tsunami last month devastated a dozen countries in South and Southeast Asia and killed nearly 160,000 people. 

(Xinhua News Agency January 14, 2005)