JEDAH: The meteorological service of the Kingdom said on Wednesday that Saudi Arabia had been unanimously elected to chair the UN panel responsible for monitoring cyclones in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal.
According to the Saudi Press Agency, the appointment is to the Pacific Panel on Tropical Cyclones in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, part of the 13-nation World Meteorological Organization/UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia.
The appointment is a “testament to the country’s pioneering role and commitment to addressing critical issues related to disasters and their significance,” according to Ayman bin Salem Ghulam, CEO of Saudi Arabia’s National Center for Meteorology.
Ghulam stated that to reduce fatalities and property damage, monitoring and forecasting systems needed to be strengthened, particularly in light of the rise in tropical cyclones globally and in the region.
Following Cyclone Bhola, the deadliest tropical storm on record, which claimed over 300,000 lives in Bangladesh in November 1970, the panel was established in 1972.
The panel’s original six members—Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Thailand—grew to thirteen, and the Maldives, Oman, and Yemen are also included. 2018 the UAE, Iran, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia joined.
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