"This exercise is designed to improve responsiveness, to evaluate the ability of each country to react and optimise coordination across the region," the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Educational Organisation said in a statement.

The alert system was created more than 40 years ago and is funded by UNESCO's International Oceanographic Commission (COI).

The test, dubbed Pacific Wave 06, will be organised in two phases: first a fake tsunami warning will be sent out by the alert centre in Hawaii on May 16, then transmitted to predetermined contact points and to the national authorities in charge of dealing with emergencies.

"It will be clearly indicated that it is a test and not a real alert," said the international organisation.

The second phase will take place either that day or the following day, when the national emergency authorities will transmit the information to their local equivalents.

Most of the 29 Indian Ocean nations affected by the December 2004 tsunami did not have an adequate warning system when a massive undersea earthquake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra unleashed giant waves, killing an estimated 217,000 people in 11 countries.

Experts said a system similar to the one in operation for decades in the nearby Pacific could have allowed thousands of victims to reach safety.

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