KUWAIT: Director General of the General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGCA) Yusuf Al-Fawzan yesterday stressed on the importance of highlighting the role of meteorology in facing severe weather hazards such as heat waves, droughts, heavy rains, dust storms and climatic fluctuations. In a statement to KUNA on the occasion of the Arab Meteorological Day to be observed today, Al-Fawzan pointed to the increase in the frequency and intensity of the weather in recent years as it constitutes the largest percentage of natural disasters and their direct and indirect repercussions on life, property and the environment in all its forms.

He pointed out that the Arab countries, represented by the meteorological centers, are celebrating the occasion under the slogan 'Meteorology and Protection of Lives and Properties' came with a proposal submitted by Kuwait at the meeting of the Permanent Arab Commission for Meteorology and Climate at its 34th meeting at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, which was widely welcomed and unanimously approved on 15 September 2018.

He said that the 15th of September was also commemorating the anniversary of the establishment of the Arab Permanent Committee for Meteorology in 1970, which was approved by the Council of the League of Arab States at the ministerial level. He noted the importance of the celebration to promote and disseminate community awareness of the role of meteorology and its importance, adding that 90 percent of natural disasters are the result of fluctuations in weather and climate, which is not bounded by geographical boundaries and do not exclude any human gatherings and no country will be immune from them.
He pointed to the need to develop national plans and programs in cooperation between all state and community institutions to face the fluctuations of weather and climate to reduce the negative effects on lives, property and the environment. -- KUNA