China plans to launch eight satellites to warn about natural disasters

China plans to launch eight satellites to warn of imminent natural disasters as it struggles to halt the massive destruction and thousands of deaths they cause each year. Three satellites will be sent into space in the first half of 2007, with five more to join them by 2010, said Jia Zhibang, deputy director of the National Disaster Reduction Committee. The purpose of the 800 million yuan (99 million dollars) project will be to provide a network focused on disaster prevention and relief work. China is annually blighted by large-scale floods, landslides, droughts and other natural disasters. So far this year, they have claimed 1,630 lives.The economic cost is also huge, with losses running at 163 billion yuan (20.1 billion dollars) so far this year. Fang Zhiyong, a senior official in charge of the satellite program at the ministry of civil affairs, said they would provide high-resolution images, alerting of imminent disasters but also helping evaluate and analyze damage. The data will also “help uncover false reports, for instance, officials reporting a lower death toll to avoid punishment and provide appropriate relief,” Fang said. Other Asian nations will be invited to participate in the program “so that we can establish an information exchange platform to jointly cope with serious disasters,” Fang said. More

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