China will provide meteorological aid for tsunami-hit countries on their demands, said a top official with the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) on Wednesday.

The CMA has sent telegrams to ten countries hit by the earthquake-triggered tsunamis, saying that it would like to provide meteorological information for those countries to prevent further calamities and to reduce damages brought by the tsunamis, said Yu Jixin, director of the Department of International Cooperation of the CMA.

"We have also expressed our wishes in the telegram to provide meteorological equipment, including satellite information receiving devices and automatic meteorological station for those countries," said Yu.

So far, they are still waiting for a reply, said Yu.

"If those countries do have the need for our meteorological aid, we will provide as soon as possible," said Yu.

The Chinese Central Meteorological Station (CCMS) has opened a new weather forecast service on tsunami-hit countries, which will provide weather and climate forecast of those countries and analysis on atmosphere conditions of the Indian Ocean.

The ten countries the CMA has sent a telegram to are Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Maldives, Bangladesh, Somalia and Seychelles.

(Xinhua News Agency January 5, 2005)