China plans to launch a constellation of eight satellites to warn of natural calamities, and help in the aftermath, a senior official of the country's disaster-relief watchdog announced yesterday.

Three satellites will be sent into space in the first half of 2007, with five more to join them by 2010, providing a network focused on disaster prevention and relief work, said Jia Zhibang, deputy director of the National Disaster Reduction Committee.

The satellites will be positioned in two groups at altitudes between 100 and 200 kilometres from Earth and provide high-resolution images, said Fang Zhiyong, a senior official in charge of the programme at the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Apart from disaster alerts, the satellites - weighing about 100 kilograms each - will play a key role in evaluating and analyzing damage, he said.

The data provided by the satellites can thus "help uncover false reports - for instance, officials reporting a lower death toll to avoid punishment - and provide appropriate relief," Fang added.

"The results will be 80 per cent closer to the reality about, for example, how many people and areas have been affected,"

Rebuilding disaster-affected areas and the relocation of victims will also be made easier as the new system can help design better plans in advance, he said.

China has three kinds of civilian-use satellites in space - for monitoring weather conditions, probing for natural resources and for ocean exploration.

The central government has invested more than 800 million yuan (US$99 million) in the new project.

"We will invite neighbouring countries to join us in the programme at the Asian Disaster Relief Conference next week, so that we can establish an information exchange platform to jointly cope with serious disasters," Fang said.

"And, we may launch more than eight satellites, if necessary."

A three-day ministerial-level meeting on disaster relief in Asia will kick off in Beijing next Tuesday and is expected to attract 350 participants from 40 countries.

Thousands have lost their lives and China has suffered huge economic losses from natural disasters in recent years. This year, many parts of the nation have been ravaged by floods, drought and typhoons.

Figures released yesterday show 1,630 lives were claimed in natural disasters between January and September 20 this year, with direct economic losses amounting to 163 billion yuan (US$20 billion).

Earlier this month, the government announced it would no longer keep death tolls secret, or under-report them, as part of efforts to establish transparent governance.

But Jia Zhibang said at the briefing yesterday that death tolls from past calamities would not be revised or republished.

"As for the three-year natural disaster which struck China from 1959 to 1962, the government has no specific information about the death toll and therefore there will not be any

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