The China Meteorological Administration (CMA) said on August 24 that it had accelerated the building of an emergency alert system.

Sun Jian, Director of CMA's Public Weather Service Center and also head of CMA's emergency alert system, said that the country aims to build a multi-tier network, including one state-level, 31 provincial-level and 342 municipal-level platforms. That will improve the function of the warning system.

The aim of the project is to ensure residents receive a warning within 10 minutes after messages are released via the Internet, text messages, telephone, fax, radio, electronic screens, loudspeakers in rural areas, marine radio and other channels, Sun said.

It is a key part of the country's emergency response system and was initially set up in 11 provincial-level regions.

Investment in the system had hit 136 million yuan ($21.42 million), earlier reports said.