News from Guangdong Meteorology Department is that Guangdong Provincial Government has upgraded Guangdong Meteorological Catastrophe Emergency Measure and formally released it to the local governments at various levels within the province.

This is the first time that a measure about weather catastrophes has been released in China by a provincial government. Guangdong government's release of the measure comes as a result of the severe snowstorm that struck China in January this year.  The measure covers issues like the establishment of a leadership team, and the duties and functions of concerned departments in case of a major meteorological and weather emergency. It asks that a major natural disaster be reported to the provincial emergency department within two hours after its first occurrence.

The meteorological department is asked to also classify the natural disaster into four levels according to their degree of seriousness and mark each of the levels with Red, Orange, Yellow and Blue, respectively.

The concerned departments, including the propaganda department; trade and commerce department; police department; and agricultural department, are asked to take active defensive measures to eliminate the possible losses from a natural disaster.