A UN oceans commission agreed yestersday to work with 27 countries on a tsunami warning system for the Indian Ocean, with a network of deep-sea sensors and broadcast alerts to prevent a repeat of the disaster in December.

Unesco's oceanographic commission said the network was expected to start running in a year's time. Countries around the rim of the Indian Ocean will each set up individual warning centres that will be linked to others throughout the region.

Patricio Bernal, executive secretary of the commission, said individual governments had yesterday agreed on how exactly the system should work after a 10-day meeting in Paris.

"It's a very strong step forward," he said.

Bernal stressed that the success of the system would depend on governments' commitment to teaching people how to protect themselves once the warnings come through.

"There is no technological fix for a tsunami," he said.

Warnings came too late on Boxing Day when an earthquake and tsunami killed more than 176,000 people in 11 countries and left about 50,000 missing and hundreds of thousands homeless.

Work has already begun on the new tsunami warning system, with six new or upgraded tidal gauges already installed, and a total of 25 planned.

Seismographic networks and deep-sea ocean pressure sensors will detect undersea earthquakes and broadcast warnings to coastal communities.

"It's a major undertaking," said Bernal. Individual countries are financing their parts of the system, often with large injections of foreign aid.