(MENAFN- Emirates News Agency (WAM))
ABU DHABI, 12th October, 2017 (WAM) -- The National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology, NCMS, and the University of Sharjah have discussed, during their first joint meeting, the possibility of developing an early warning system for major earthquakes while noting international research on the amount of time needed by concerned authorities and individuals to take the required safety measures, to decrease the loss of life and property.
The meeting, which was held at the headquarters of the NCMS in Abu Dhabi, was attended by Dr. Abdullah Al Mandous, Director of the NCMS, and several directors of departments and heads of sections at the centre while the delegation of professors from the University of Sharjah was headed by Dr. Abdallah Shanableh, Director of the Research Institute of Sciences and Engineering, RISE, at the University.
Regarding the planned early warning system, Dr. Al Mandous stated that this method can provide information on the start of an earthquake seconds before its shockwaves can reach affected areas at a distance of over 100 kilometres from its centre, in order to take the necessary measures for public safety and for the earthquake's strength and centre to be specified later, unlike the current method that primarily relies on analysis and can take between 15 to 30 minutes to produce a reading.
He also stressed that the security of individuals is the NCMS's most important responsibility, which encourages it to make considerable efforts to obtain the latest technologies that provide security to community members, as well as to co-operate with leading scientific and academic institutions.
Dr. Al Mandous valued the initiative of University of Sharjah, which is one of the leading scientific establishments in the country, to further study earthquakes, which will contribute to developing future earthquake early warning systems.
The meeting touched upon the subject of water security and how to preserve rainwater; the University's desire to make records and charts about dams, their capacity and current state; as well as the solutions to stop the wastage of rainwater and to gain the utmost benefit from it by conducting studies based on the data available through the NCMS.
Al Mandous stated that that the NCMS's mission was centred around monitoring the cloud formations, making rain enhancement operations and measuring the rainfall, but with the increasing interest of the UAE government, the NCMS had offered many studies that would contribute towards revealing the possibilities of benefitting from rainwater, while the University of Sharjah would be able to support the necessary research.
He clarified that the NCMS had been conducting rain enhancement operations since 2000, and had expertise in this field, besides the support of the Ministry of Presidential Affairs, represented by H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, who had provided all the means to ensure success in these experiments.
The NCMS has rain enhancement airplanes, which have saved a lot of effort and money, in addition to the UAE Research Programme for Rain Enhancement Science, which is an initiative launched by the Ministry of Presidential Affairs in early 2015 and whose execution is supervised by the NCMS. It aims to strengthen global water security by promoting the best scientific practices and co-operating in the processes of research and development in the field of rain enhancement.
Dr. Abdallah Shanableh spoke about the aspirations of the University to co-operate with the NCMS, especially in conducting studies and establishing specialised scientific laboratories, as well as the desire of the University to establish a surface monitoring station to collect weather data and the possibility of designing an educational course in meteorological sciences, in co-operation with the authorities concerned.
WAM/Tariq alfaham
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