JICA energises Sri Lanka’s weather forecasting for a new direction
JICA Sri Lanka and Department of Meteorology have launched a project called ‘Project for Capacity Building of Meteorological Observation, Weather Forecasting and Warning Issuance by Utilisation of Weather Radars’ to streamline the current whether forecasting system in more user-friendly manner.
Under this project, JICA is providing technical expertise
such as dispatching Japanese experts with necessary equipment to streamline the
current typical weather forecast dissemination mode in Sri Lanka, whereas
general public of Sri Lanka will be able to receive the real time weather
information with geographical map into the smartphones through a simple mobile
application.
This is an exciting experience for general public to observe
the real time weather information, which will help them carry out day to day
life and understand the risk of any possible weather hazards due to bad weather
conditions.
This advanced system will be available for Sri Lankan people
with the establishment of proposed two Weather Radars which will be setup at
Puttalam and Pottuvil under JICA grant aid project, that costs approximately
Rs. 4,412 billion (2.503 billion yen). The Weather Radar is the latest
technology to gather very accurate weather information to be disseminated on
real time weather forecasting.
The project also aims to support capacity building of
meteorological staff in the department by providing technical training in Japan
especially for operation and maintenance of Weather Radar technology and
state-of-the-art technology for weather forecasting.
Record of discussion for the four-year (2022-2025) project
was signed on 24 November by JICA Sri Lanka Chief Representative Yamada Tetsuya
and Department of Meteorology in Colombo Director General Athula
Karunanayake.
“Our prime objective and expectation of this project is to
strengthening the weather forecasting facility of the Department of Meteorology
in order to minimise the loss of economic damages in the country and eliminate
loss of human life due to natural disasters,” said Yamada at the launching of
the project.
Further, he emphasises that “no one can stop the natural
disasters, but proper management practices and taking necessary mitigation
measures for disaster risk reduction such as disseminating real weather
information at the right time is the most appropriate way of preventing damages
by natural disasters”.
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