The Regional Forecast Support Center (RFSC) project is part of an initiative by the World Meteorological Organization to improve nations’ capabilities in mitigating damage caused by severe weather.

The center in Hanoi is still in a trial stage, according to Tran Hong Thai, deputy general director of Vietnam’s General Department of Meteorology, which oversees the center’s operations.

After the trial period, the center will come on full stream, when it receives support in the form of meteorological data provided by a network of similar centers around the world.

Countries including the U.S., Japan and some European nations will send periodic reports of their weather readings to Hanoi, where the data will be analyzed to make reliable forecasts of upcoming severe weather phenomena in the region.

The Vietnam-based RFSC will be responsible for issuing graphics and other forecasting products to all countries in Southeast Asia using its resources, Thai said.

Vietnam, which suffers from over ten tropical storms a year on average, is expected to benefit from the opening of the support center, which can help fine-tune the country’s future forecasts for better typhoon mitigation, experts say.

On Monday, a two-week training workshop on severe weather forecasting organized by the World Meteorological Organization also kicked off in Hanoi.

The workshop, which will last through March 30, is aimed at equipping meteorological experts in Vietnam with the analytical skills needed to make early warnings of severe weather conditions for neighboring countries.

Vietnam was hit by 16 typhoons in 2017, which caused over VND22.6 trillion (US$996.66 million) in property damage and affected the livelihoods of millions in storm-hit regions, according to state reports.

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