Meteorologists are working on a nationwide plan to combat the
impact of extreme weather conditions that threaten both the economy
and society as a whole.
Zheng Guoguang, director of the China Meteorological
Administration (CMA), said the plan, which runs until 2020, will
focus on disaster warning, information release and emergency
response, technological support, legislation and standard making,
and public education.
"All our efforts are designed to make our weather forecasts more
accurate," he said.
Zheng was speaking in Beijing yesterday at a conference on
weather-related disaster relief and prevention.
Under the draft plan, eight key projects will be developed to
improve the way in which weather disasters are handled.
These include the establishment of new weather radar network,
completion of the Fengyun weather satellite system, the development
of a weather observation and disaster pre-warning project, and the
optimization of the climate change observation network and related
services.
Zheng urged local meteorologists to develop plans based on all
possible weather conditions.
For example, Zhejiang Province in east China has been frequently
attacked by typhoons, which over the past 16 years have led to
economic losses of more than 13 billion yuan (US$1.7 billion). Its
provincial plan should therefore focus on typhoon response, Zheng
said.
Likewise, Gansu Province in northwest China should look to
address problems regarding desertification and scarce water
resources, he said.
"China's current disaster relief and prevention system does not
meet the needs of the public or society," Zheng said.
For example, because of a lack of observation stations and
effective measures on following short-lived severe convective
weather, some small weather disasters have been missed, and rain
forecasts are sometimes inaccurate, he said.
People in rural areas often do not receive timely weather
information through the current channels and public knowledge of
how to avoid and deal with weather disasters is insufficient, Zheng
said.
The country must have a comprehensive disaster prevention and
rescue system, with all related departments working together, he
said.
In recent years, China has witnessed a growing number of extreme
weather events, Zheng said.
In March, northeast China and Inner Mongolia saw their heaviest
snowfall since 1951, with the former subsequently suffering six
months of drought. The Huaihe River witnessed its worst flooding
since 1954, and between January and August, 659 people died in
lightning storms, CMA figures showed.
(China Daily September 19, 2007)