Shanghai Daily Publishing House

China successfully launched Fengyun-4-01 (FY-4-01), the first of Chinese second-generation geostationary meteorological satellite at Xichang Satellite Launch Center, southwest China's Sichuan Province. FY-4-01 is the first of Fengyun 4 geostationary meteorological satellite family of CMA. Fengyun-4-01 is expected to support various weather-related services, including weather forecasting, disaster prevention and reduction, and monitoring and warning of space weather.

Kenya has launched an insurance program designed to address challenges that agricultural producers may face when there are large production shocks, such as droughts and floods. Satellite data will be used to estimate the availability of pasture on the ground and decide payouts to pastoralists when availability falls.

Bangladesh has been constructing new, and repairing hundreds of existing cyclone shelters and shelter access roads in cyclone prone areas in coastal districts, reports Shanghai Daily. This is being done in collaboration with the World Bank through a project to restore the livelihoods of people affected by disaster and to build long-term disaster preparedness...

Mobile phone blackspots in Australian bushfire-prone regions, such as Victoria, will remain unfixed in the near future despite an Australian government program set up to improve coverage. Local citizens are worried that early warnings would not reach them on time...

'Bills aimed at introducing tax reliefs on compulsory earthquake insurance for both citizens and insurance companies have been proposed in the past, but were never approved,' said Riccardo Campagna, an expert in risk management...

The international symposium on creating disaster-resilient cities held by the UN Habitat Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific discussed challenges in disaster prevention and mitigation as well as the experiences of different countries, reports the Shanghai Daily in a call for the reinforcement of weak structures, early warning, and preparedness...

New Zealand is to help smaller Pacific countries improve their tsunami precautions, Prime Minister John Key announced Tuesday, 'the government would invest 2.7 million NZ dollars (2.24 million U.S. dollars) over the coming year to upgrade tsunami risk management systems in the Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Niue and Tokelau.'..

'Extreme weather like sudden rain storms and high temperatures will become more frequent in the city, which is improving its drainage network and a public extreme weather warning system' said Teng Wuxiao, a member of Shanghai Disaster Defense Association's expert commission...