HYDERABAD, Dec 16: India said on Friday it would not share information on earthquakes below a magnitude of six on the Richter scale due to security concerns, drawing criticism from the United Nations.

Indian seismologists at a UN tsunami conference said sharing seismic data had security implications as seabed terrain could be mapped, possibly helping others learn about the nation’s submarines and warships.

Indian seismologists also said providing information on earthquakes below a magnitude of six was unnecessary in seeking to prevent a tsunami.

“Only an earthquake with a magnitude of more than seven has the potential to generate a tsunami,” said G.D. Gupta, head of the seismology division in the ministry of science and technology.

“That’s why we’re willing to provide data on quakes above the magnitude of six.”

He was speaking on the sidelines of the UN conference, which aims to set up a tsunami early warning system for Indian Ocean countries by next year. Sharing seismology data is considered a crucial part of developing the system.

The conference in this southern city ended 10 days before the first anniversary of last year’s devastating tsunami.

Patricio Bernal, assistant director general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), rejected India’s argument and said the organization wanted a free flow of data.

“The small quakes are important because we never know what they may lead to. It might be the signal for a bigger one,” he said.

“India is the only country which has put up such a request (to refuse to share such data),” he added.

Most of the 29 Indian Ocean nations did not have an adequate warning system when a massive undersea earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra unleashed giant waves on Dec 26 last year, killing some 220,000 people in 11 countries.

Since then, Indian Ocean nations have pledged rapidly to upgrade tsunami detection systems with a deep-sea sensor network so those at risk can be warned faster.

“Essentially, after the tsunami and the many other disasters, the UN is facing a challenge of certain universal standards,” Bernal said.

“When the security of people is concerned, when the stability of the ... planet is concerned, every nation should be, on an ethical principle, bound by a convention to share technical data,” Bernal said.

“We can’t afford to let a nation’s interest interfere with the protection of life support on the planet,” he said.

“This is something which is emerging more and more. We can’t afford not to have all the data which is necessary to protect not just one country or one continent but the whole planet,” he said.

Top scientists and government officials from over 25 nations attended the three-day session held by the UN’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. It ended on Friday. —AFP