All the 47 weather stations under the Meteorological Services Department have now been upgraded at a cost of US$6,5 million.
Five weather radars have been installed to cover the whole country, increasing the department’s ability to give far better disaster warnings.
Speaking during the National Climate Services framework stakeholders workshop in Harare yesterday, Met Department director Mrs Rebecca Manzou said the upgrade has improved the country’s disaster preparedness.
“The Meteorological Services Department has 47 stations dotted around the country and as we speak all stations have new automatic weather stations.
“Thanks to the Government’s efforts to rehabilitate the weather stations.
“We had old equipment until recently. We have seen an increase in the advancement of infrastructure,” said Mrs Manzou.
She said Cyclone Idai was a wake up call which saw the Government making it a priority to equip the department as part of the preparations to cope with weather hazards such as cyclones, strong winds and heavy rains among others.
The country was also equipped with five radars that were allowing defences to be alerted as early as possible before hazards surge, giving the department defences the maximum time in which to operate.
“Cyclone Idai was a wakeup call and the need to provide early warning for all weather hazards became a priority to the Government. This is why you saw the Government investing in five radars. These cover the whole country.
“This is a sign that as a country we are prepared for any cyclone that may hit us as a country. The radars cover the whole country,”
“What needs to happen is for our neighbours to also have a network that keeps them alert of potential hazards because hazards have no borders,” said Mrs Manzou.
She said there was need for stakeholders to contribute their commitments towards national response to climate change.
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) deputy president Madelena Munoja said there was need for all stakeholders in the climate sector to help rehabilitate the sector in response to national disasters.
“On behalf of said they we are happy to support the Government of Zimbabwe in ensuring that there is available capacity for timely, credible weather information and also for the utilisation of this information for the benefit of the community and decision making.”
“We have already seen the investment from the Government has been put in place. We also have seen that there is a need to make use of the infrastructure and be able to,”said Ms Munoja.
“Besides mapping what infrastructure is available, there is a need to make the infrastructure operational, generating data, and analysing data to provide information to communities.” – The Herald
