The high-tech system of seafloor sensors,data-laden sound waves and fibre-optic cable was meant to replace a system set up after the 2004 tsunami.
The official toll has already passed 800 but authorities warn it will probably be much higher as rescuers attempt to save those still unaccounted for.
Indonesian officials may face a reckoning over why the tsunami alerts were pulled even as a disaster was roaring ashore.
At least 384 people have been killed and the toll is expected to spike sharply as authorities reach Indonesian areas cut off after a major earthquake and tsunami hit Sulawesi.
The only purpose-built stadium for next year's Rugby World Cup is helping revive a small Japanese town devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.