KATHMANDU, Sept 22: The China Meteorological Administration (CMA) has officially handed over the MAZU-Nepal meteorological platform to the Nepal Meteorological Department (NMD) during the Second China-Central Asia Meteorological Cooperation Forum held in Urumqi, Xinjiang, on Monday.
According to CMA, the handover comes in the aftermath of the devastating mudslide that struck Nepal on Aug. 26. Following the disaster, the Chinese agency provided continuous meteorological support to Nepal through joint video consultations and the provision of forecasting and early warning products.
What Nepal can learn from China
CMA said MAZU-Nepal was deployed on a cloud-based trial basis on Aug. 29, just days after the disaster. During rescue and relief operations, the platform was used to generate daily monitoring and forecasting bulletins, while Nepali officials accessed its products through cloud-based services and utilized them in joint consultations.
The MAZU-Nepal platform integrates observation data from FengYun (FY) meteorological satellites and Chinese artificial intelligence-based forecasting models, including Fengqing and Fengshun. It provides high-resolution and rapidly updated monitoring and forecasting products tailored to Nepal’s geography, disaster patterns, infrastructure and data conditions.
“It is not just a cloud-based early warning platform, but also an important vehicle for Nepal to access intelligent meteorological early warning capabilities,” Hua Wenli, a senior engineer at the Operational Office of the World Meteorological Centre Beijing, said.
CMA said it will support the deployment of the MAZU-FengYun Satellite AI Box and related equipment in Nepal, provide specialized training to Nepali personnel, and establish bilateral data-sharing and consultation mechanisms aimed at improving disaster risk response.
Speaking at the forum, CMA Administrator Chen Zhenlin said meteorological early warning systems play a crucial role in protecting lives, property and socioeconomic development. He said the MAZU Solution is evolving from a Chinese initiative into a global public good and that CMA plans to expand its application worldwide to help strengthen early warning capacity.
