Disaster surveillance network to be set up in mudslide-hit county in NW China

A meteorological disaster surveillance network will be established in mudslide-hit Zhouqu County in northwest China's Gansu Province this year, the local meteorological department said. A total of 32 regional automatic weather stations are to be constructed in order to cooperate with the current 14 weather stations as well as a national automatic weather station, resulting in an integrated network covering the whole county, said Tao Jianhong, deputy director of the Gansu Provincial Meteorological Bureau. The network will help improve the county's ability to monitor strong convective weather, said Tao. Zhouqu was devastated when an avalanche of mud roared down the slopes of a nearby mountain on Aug. 8, 2010 following days of heavy rain. The catastrophe left 1,765 people dead or missing and destroyed buildings and roads, causing huge economic loss. In the wake of the disaster, the county has also improved its meteorological forecast warning system by setting up 23 electronic screens for weather forecasting and installing loudspeakers in the 213 villages under the jurisdiction of Zhouqu. Meanwhile, a TV weather forecasting system and some weather radar systems have been set up to further strengthen the county's disaster prevention capacity.