At the invitation of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Mr. Lee Kwok Lun, Scientific Officer of the Observatory, travelled far to South Africa to deliver a series of lectures at a training workshop in early November 2009. Twenty-nine meteorologists and officers of disaster management authorities from seventeen countries in southern Africa attended the workshop. The lectures focused on the important role of public weather services in support of disaster prevention and mitigation, especially on the communication and coordination between meteorological services and disaster management authorities. The workshop was organized under the Public Weather Services (PWS) Programme of the WMO.
After the lecture on disaster prevention and mitigation, Mr. James Chiusiwa of the Department of Disaster Management Affairs of Malawi praised the success of the Observatory in using graded warning systems to trigger relevant actions by the disaster management authorities as well as the general public. Moreover, he was also impressed by the people caring elements of the precautionary announcements in association with the warnings issued by the Observatory. In a workshop on media skills, Mr. Vincent Sakwa of Kenyan Meteorological Department paid tribute to Mr. Lee's excellent presentation, which provided them useful skills in communicating with the media. The skills would definitely help them to further improve the public weather services in their country. The workshop stimulated enthusiastic responses and sharing of experience among the lecturers and participants.
The invitation of Mr. Lee to the workshop demonstrated the international recognition of the Observatory's expertise in public weather services.
Mr. Lee (front row, 3rd left) together with participants of the workshop.
Mr. Lee and a Mozambique participant demonstrating media interview skills.
Mr. Lee (front row, 3rd left) together with participants of the workshop.
Mr. Lee and a Mozambique participant demonstrating media interview skills. 
