According to scientists, it is a world-first system, the first seismic array designed to enable authorities to make accurate predictions on tsunamis. The system being installed in the red dust of the Pilbara region in Western Australia will monitor earthquakes that occur around the Indian ocean and along the Indonesian archipelago.

The seismic array is a network of interconnected seismographs that measure and record the force and duration of earthquakes. They are arranged in a geometric pattern to increase sensitivity to events underground.

Readings from the tearing of the Earth will be beamed, in real time, back to the tsunami warning centre in Melbourne and Geoscience Australia in Canberra.

Australia is located on the northwest, northeast and east by some 8,000 km of active tectonic plate boundary capable of generating tsunami.

One-third of all earthquakes worldwide occur along these boundaries. The impact of a tsunami hitting vulnerable low-lying areas of the Australian coast could be significant.