Cambodia has installed 27 automatic weather stations in Phnom Penh and 10 more provinces having received a grant from South Korea. Water Resources Ministry
Cambodia has installed 27 automatic weather stations in Phnom Penh and 10 more provinces having received a grant from South Korea to fund the expansion. Prior to these additions, Cambodia already had nearly 60 stations.
In a Facebook post, the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology said the installation of the stations was attributable to the efforts of the ministry’s weather departments along with the Korean Meteorological Administration (KMA) and Korean Meteorological Institute (KMI).
“The installation of more automatic weather stations means that the government will receive more detailed and better data to use for weather forecasts which will improve their accuracy, level of detail and timeliness,” the ministry wrote.
The ministry’s meteorological department director Um Rina told The Post on that the installation began after the components had arrived on January 16 this year.
He said the installation would be completed soon in provinces such as Preah Vihear, Kampong Cham, Ratanakkiri and Tbong Khmum.
Rina added that up until now Cambodia has had 59 automatic weather stations across the country but more are needed in order to monitor the effects of climate change and meet those challenges and to be able to make long-term weather forecasts with more accuracy.
“These new weather stations will increase our capacity for gathering information for our weather forecasts and they will help give earlier warning of storms and other severe weather.
“The ability to forecast the weather accurately and longer-term is important to industry sectors such as transport, aviation and agriculture,” he explained.
Rina said the equipment from South Korea and its installation would have cost nearly $3 million without Korea’s generous grant assistance.
Hem Odom, an environmental expert, said the installation of the new stations is a positive development that will provide Cambodians with more information regarding climate change developments in the country so that it can prepare in advance when there are irregularities.
“The day-to-day weather forecasts are of lesser importance than the ability to detect and prepare for natural disasters such as floods or droughts,” he said.
