Typhoons caused fewer casualties and lower economic losses this year than in years past even as more of the potentially destructive storms slammed the Chinese mainland.
So far about 60 people have been killed by typhoons this year, and the storms caused economic losses of 18 billion yuan ($2.37 billion), statistics show.
"This is a record low in terms of the number of people killed by typhoons," Ye Dianxiu, chief weather forecast engineer at the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), told China Daily.
These numbers are in sharp contrast to the corresponding figures for the same period of last year and 2005.
Last year, some 1,522 people were killed by typhoons, which caused direct economic losses of 76.5 billion yuan.
In the most serious hit, Typhoon Bilis claimed the lives of more than 800 people in six provinces along the coast.
In 2005, the death toll was 270, with 73.6 billion yuan in economic losses.
"We were much better prepared ahead of the typhoon season this year," Ye said.
Accurate forecasting and the timely distribution of emergency messages to the public are believed to be the key reasons for the improvement.
Zheng Guoguang, director of the CMA, said recently that the country's weather authorities were able get updated reports on weather conditions every 6 minutes by using advanced radar technology.
The country is among the world's leading nations in producing three-day weather forecasts.
The country's weather officials have achieved 83 percent accuracy predicting rain within a 24-hour period, he said.
In a bid to quickly distribute accurate emergency weather information, the CMA has joined hands with the information and technology and communications departments to send messages via Internet, television, radio, mobile TV screens and cell phones.
This year, 83.3 million text message warnings were distributed free of charge to people in the path of Typhoon Sepat 36 hours before the storm struck.
About 1 million people were evacuated ahead of that storm, which skirted Southeast China, Xu Xiaofeng, deputy director of CMA, said.
As of this month, eight typhoons have hit China this year. The average is six or seven.
Source:China Daily
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