At 14:20 on March 28, 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck Sagaing of Myanmar. The China Meteorological Administration (CMA) delivered real-time weather monitoring and forecasting services of the earthquake struck area to support  earthquake relief work.

From March 29 to 31, experts from the World Meteorological Centre Beijing (WMC-BJ), jointly analyzed and judged the condition, and successively produced and released 2 issues of the Myanmar weather monitoring and forecasting report, which provided information on high-definition surface temperature changes of FENGYUN meteorological satellite in the earthquake zone, high temperature conditions and trends, and future precipitation in the earthquake zone. It also provided day-by-day forecasts for the next 5 days for Mandalay, Naypyidaw, Yangon and other cities, and shared the relevant monitoring and forecasting conclusions with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Coordination Mechanism (WCM) to assist it in providing decision-making services to the United Nations (UN) and humanitarian affairs agencies.

FY-4B Meteorological Satellite Image (9:30 AM, March 29, 2025, Beijing Time) Source: WMC-BJ

The experts of WCM remarked that the information on the monitoring and forecasting services of the Chinese meteorological departments was very helpful in further understanding the weather trends in Myanmar, and incorporated the relevant forecast information provided by WMC-BJ into WCM HydroMet Weekly Scan.

WMC-BJ also worked with Dr. Shwe Yee Nwe, Visiting Scholar from Myanmar National Meteorological Service through the “Belt and Road” Scholarship Program, and confirmed that CMA was ready to be supportive for meteorological and hydrological monitoring and forecasting in a real time manner.

Temperature and standardized anomalies at 850 hPa from March 30 to April 5, 2025 (Unit: °C) Source: WMC-BJ

For Myanmar earthquake relief work, CMA sent local weather forecast text messages to the China International Search and Rescue Team (CISAR) every day and advised rescuers to take timely precautions against the effects of heat and precipitation on rescue efforts and physical exertion with proper disinfection and sterilization.

Editor: JIANG Zhiqing, and QIAN Xin