China will launch three small disaster-monitoring satellites in 2007, announced Wang Zhenyao, director of the disaster relief department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

"Based on the satellite network, China will construct a ground-to-air satellite constellation system for disaster-forecasting and -monitoring in 2010 when another five satellites are to be launched into the air."

Wang made the above statement Monday at a training session on disaster management jointly sponsored by China's Ministry of Civil Affairs and the International Civil Defence Organization.

"Since 2001 and especially in the last two years, China's disaster-relief system has developed rapidly, with many technological elements being injected," said Wang.

During the 1990s, a proposal was put forward for the building of a network of orbital satellites specifically designed to monitor and forecast disasters. This constellation satellite system was the joint effort of the State Environmental Protection Administration of China, the National Commission for Disaster Reduction and the China Aerospace Corporation Organization.

This satellite system was listed as a key project for civilian satellite development in the China's Space Activities, a white paper published by the State Council Information Office on November 22, 2000. Finally, in February 2003, China's State Council green-lighted the project, enabling it to proceed.

Wang said that the satellite constellation system would be the most advanced and complicated of its kind in China to date.

With its current more than 2,000 environment-monitoring stations established nationwide, China can currently produce over 30 million types of environment monitoring-related data. Despite this pre-existing set-up, "China's disaster-monitoring means are still backward," said Wang.

China suffers from one of the highest rate of natural disasters occurring anywhere in the world, with about 200 million victims suffering from various disasters each year.

Natural disasters occurring in China in 2005 caused 2,475 deaths and 204.2 billion yuan (US$25.5 billion) of direct losses.

(Xinhua News Agency August 22, 2006)