By the end of 2003, China had in place a meteorological
monitoring system consisting of 400 radar antennae, 1,606 automated
meteorological stations and six satellites. The system has made
weather information increasingly accessible to the public.
China has successfully modernized its meteorological services,
said Qin Dahe, director of the China Meteorological
Administration (CMA), on Tuesday at a ceremony in Beijing
celebrating International Meteorological Day, which falls on March
23 every year.
To mark this year’s Meteorological Day, themed “Weather, Climate
and Water in an Information Age,” the CMA entertained visitors from
all walks of life last Saturday, opening the usually low-profile
administration to questions such as “Why has snowfall in Beijing
kept decreasing in recent years?” and showing over 2,000 interested
people how weather programs on TV are made.
Hu Yuanyuan, a student from the University of International
Business and Economics who toured the CMA on Saturday, told Xinhua
that meteorological information is critical because “almost all
human activities are closely related to factors such as weather,
climate and water.”
Against a backdrop of unprecedented social and economic changes,
China is facing many challenges in disaster relief, food security,
water resource management, transportation, tourism and pollution
control, none of which are independent of meteorological
factors.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reports that
meteorological and hydrographic disasters were responsible for more
than 80 percent of the total losses caused by natural disasters in
the past ten years.
China, plagued by conditions such as drought, flood, heat and
frost, is one of the most highly affected countries in the world by
meteorological disasters. Some 600 million Chinese people are
affected every year and economic losses are enormous.
However, as China seeks a path to sustainable development,
weather, climate and water have attracted unprecedented attention
from the general public.
“Quick collection and distribution of meteorological information
will greatly facilitate the cause of reasonably developing and
protecting climatic and water resources,” said Wang Yongguang, of
the China Climate Center.
The WMO launched International Meteorological Day in 1960. The
annual event focuses on a particular theme each year and features
global activities to increase public interest in and knowledge of
meteorology.
(Xinhua News Agency March 24, 2004)