China marked the World Meteorological Day by asking people around the globe to come up with new names for typhoons, as Longwang or Dragon King was scratched from the traditional list of 140 names.

The campaign was launched by the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) which hopes the names reflected the theme of Thursday's World Meteorological Day which was preventing and mitigating natural disasters.

Typhoons are christened according to a rotation of 140 words from regional languages in 14 Asian-Pacific members of the Typhoon Committee of the World Meteorological Organization. Most storms are named after legendary figures, flowers, animals, birds, trees and food, said Qian Chuanhai, a typhoon expert with the CMA.

Over the past few years the meteorologists have scratched four names from the list as the last time they were used the storms caused a lot of death and destruction, Qian said.

The name Longwang, was eliminated from the list of typhoon names by the Typhoon Committee as the last it was used the storm caused a major catastrophe in southeastern China, leaving 147 dead in east China's Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces in October, 2005.

Matsa, a name brought forward by Laos, was also eliminated for it was last used to name a typhoon that caused heavy casualties in Asian-Pacific areas, especially in China.

China has been hit by more typhoons in recent years with eight typhoons and tropical cyclones lashing its coast in 2005. Some of the storms were named Haitang, Matsa and Khanun, said Xu Xiaofeng, deputy-head of CMA.

"We hope to promote typhoon awareness across the country through this naming campaign," Xu said.

The campaign will end on April 30. People around the world can pass on their suggested name through the CMA's website, hotline or text messages.

(Xinhua News Agency March 24, 2006)