The organizers of next year's Olympics have drawn up contingency plans to deal with possible bad weather during the event, an official said this week.

Yang Shu'an, executive vice-president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games (BOCOG), said at a press conference on Wednesday: "We have already developed a scheme to cope with various weather conditions during the Games."

At least six additional observation points have been set up around the Olympic Green, where a cluster of venues are located, and other Olympic-related sites for weather surveillance, Yang said.

"Weather forecasts will be updated every three hours during the Games so we can make decisions on whether to put the contingency plan into action," he said.

China's national meteorological bureau has promised accurate weather forecasts throughout the Games, which run from August 8-24, saying they will tell people exactly when and where rain will fall and vague terms like "rainfall probability" will be banned.

The measures proved effective during last summer's test events, Yang said.

"For example, we had a specific plan to deal with a typhoon before the equestrian events in Hong Kong in August," he said.

"And when one actually hit on the opening day of the event, we immediately informed the audiences and athletes about the rescheduling plan.

"Actually, we were glad the typhoon hit because it provided us with an opportunity to test our readiness to deal with contingencies."

Xinhua

(China Daily 11/09/2007 page5)