Meteorologists from Bhutan, Ethiopia, Gambia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Oman, Pakistan, Saint Lucia and Thailand attended a training course on Design and Operation of Meteorological Warning Systems organized by the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) for the WMO Voluntary Cooperation Programme (VCP) from 5 to 9 December 2005.
The training course aimed at enhancing meteorological warning and public weather services around the world. The course consisted of lectures, practical sessions and visits. Topics included overview of weather warning systems in Hong Kong, dissemination channels and destinations, coordination with government departments, emergency organizations and the media, as well as public education and awareness programmes. Mr. C. Y. Lam, Director of the Hong Kong Observatory, remarked at the opening ceremony of the training course, “In recent years, HKO expended effort in developing public weather services and improving its service quality. The cold and very hot weather warnings, ultraviolet index, WMO’s ‘World Weather Information Services’ and ‘Severe Weather Information Centre’ websites, and lightning location information as a supplement to the thunderstorm warning, are some examples. We also actively contributed to the promotion of public weather services among WMO members, sharing Hong Kong’s experience with counterparts from meteorological services round the world.”
A participant from Ethiopia, Mr. Abebe Yeshanew, said, “The achievements of the Hong Kong Observatory in the provision of public weather service have won wide acclaim from WMO and the international meteorological community. In particular, HKO has ample experience in severe weather warnings. HKO’s work is well thought out and meets the expectation of the public. This course is very useful and I have benefited considerably from it.” Hong Kong, China will continue to hold training courses for WMO’s VCP activities in 2006.
