Jakarta - Nearly four years since the devastating Asian Tsunami of December 2004, which claimed 230,000 lives, an early warning system developed and funded with German assistance will begin operations.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will attend Tuesday's ceremony in Jakarta along with representatives of the German government, the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) said.

The German government financed the 45-million-euro (58-million- dollar) project the German-Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System, or GITEWS.

The 2004 Tsunami was triggered by an earthquake that measured 9.3 on the Richter scale off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The GFZ said the death toll would have been considerably lower if an early warning system had been in place at the time.

The system makes use of sensors placed on the seabed which relay details of changes in water pressure to buoys on the surface. The information is then transmitted via satellite to a tsunami early-warning centre in Indonesia. (dpa)