New weather forecast could reduce damage costs ( 2004-01-10 00:20) (China Daily by Liang Chao)
China's meteorological authorities are working on new plans to deal with
extreme weather emergencies such as floods, droughts, typhoons, sandstorms and
climate changes.
"(The plan) is expected to include timely weather forecasting, prediction of
climate changes and relevant damage assessments of weather-related disasters on
the national economy," a leading meteorological official said yesterday in
Beijing.
Addressing a national conference, Qin Dahe, top official at the China
Meteorological Administration (CMA), was confident that "the solution can help
decision-makers manage and mitigate damages caused by abnormal weather or
climate changes."
This, he said is "one of CMA's schemes to be carried out this year as a key
strategy."
Direct damaged caused by weather-related disasters has risen to 6 per cent of
China's total annual gross domestic product, statistics show.
Over the past year, CMA has worked hard to improve forecast accuracy for
rainstorms, typhoons and sandstorms.
Such catastrophes have left wrecked havoc with regional economies, experts
say.
This year, the administration will focus on reducing damages by tracking any
catastrophic weather phenomena, Qin promised.
In urban areas, Qin urged meteorological authorities to programme 72-hours
weather forecast and broadcast them through local TV channels, offering the
public more weather information.
In rural areas, weather services may help farmers increase grain output and
thus ensure China's food production, restructure agriculture, and improve farm
layouts in line with local climate conditions.
Meanwhile, countermeasures will also be offered for farmers to protect
regional agriculture under extreme climate changes and aid needy families.
Relying on powerful computers and a digital radar network, a new
comprehensive meteorological system is scheduled to perform remote measurements
and remote sensing automatically and continuously in Beijing and Qingdao, two
host cities of the 2008 summer Olympics.
Qin hopes such a system can greatly enhance the monitoring content and
improve forecast accuracy for the first world leading sport event to be held in
China.
Special weather forecast services will also benefit the nation's key
construction projects, significant social events, regional economic growth as
well as urbanization, traffic and oceanic development.
"To rehabilitate fragile ecosystems in some of the country's areas,
particularly west China, more cross-region cloud seeding operations for rainfall
will be launched as a way to alleviate scarcity of water and improve environment
there," Qin said.
