A drought and snow monitoring system developed by scientists in northwest China's Qinghai Province was given state technical approval recently.

By using satellite remote sensing and computer processing technology, technicians will be able to monitor, forecast and analyze disasters such as snowstorms, floods, hailstorms and drought to reduce the effect of natural disasters to the minimum level.

Tests over the past two years have shown an accuracy rate of above 75 percent, said Wang Xin, deputy director of the Qinghai Provincial Meteorological Bureau.

Located on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Qinghai is vulnerable to snowstorms, floods and other disasters. In 1999, half of the population in Qinghai was affected by disasters of various kinds.