The State Meteorological Administration (SMA) is stepping up lightning prevention education after a series of lightning strikes across the nation.

The country reported 19,982 lightning disasters in 2006, way upon the 11,026 disasters in 2005, 8,892 in 2004 and 7,625 in 2003. Lightning disasters caused direct losses of more than 600 million yuan last year.

This year has also started badly. Over the past fifteen days, China has reported two severe lightning strikes. Seven children were killed and 44 injured on May 23 in Xingye village of Kaixian County, Chongqing municipality. A week later, lightning struck in the area again, killing one and injuring another in Chongqing's Xinghe Township.

Local meteorological sources said the Xingye Village students have been transferred to safe houses nearby. Construction of their new school has begun and it will be opened on Sept. 1.

Meteorological experts were consulted about the site of the new school which is 80 meters from the old one and 10 meters lower in altitude. The new school building, expected to cost 700,000 yuan, has fewer risks of lightning strikes, land slides or floods.

Lightning strikes claimed 717 lives in China last year and 619 in 2005. But when all lightning-related disasters are taken into account -- including lightning-triggered fires and explosion accidents -- the annual death toll is over 1,000.

Of the total, about 10 percent of the victims are under 18 years old, according to SMA figures.

These numbers indicate that China has to step up efforts to avoid disasters brought about by lightning strikes, the SMA said and added that the task requires cooperation and coordination from related authorities, including the Ministry of Education (MOE).

The MOE, SMA and the emergency office of the State Council jointly started a campaign here Wednesday of providing free materials on how to avoid lightning strikes for more than 420,000 high schools and primary schools nationwide.

The materials include DVDs of stories and cartoons and illustrations showing how lightning strikes are formed and tips on how to avoid them.

The SMA has also initiated a two-month training program and more than 5,000 have registered in the program so far.

The massive program is designed to train practitioners in local meteorological units using the Internet and DVDs.

Statistics from the SMA show the country's 21 provincial capitals in temperate and tropical zones are hit by thunderbolts and lightning at least 50 days a year, with the worst affected reporting 134 days.

"Lightning poses a real threat to several economic sectors -- electricity, petrochemicals, telecoms, transportation and civil aviation -- not to mention the safety of China's vast rural population," warns an SMA report.

Jiao Meiyan, director of the National Meteorological Center urged local weather forecasters during a recent videophone conference to "be fully aware of lightning's destructive capacity and the importance of prevention".  

"Lightning is happening much more frequently and meteorological workers must not underestimate the seriousness of the threat. Monitoring must be strengthened so that people can be alerted as early as possible," she said.

To spread lightning prevention awareness, the SMA published a simple prevention guide for individuals on its website in May.

But Song Lianchun, director of the Weather Forecast and Disaster Prevention Department of the SMA, thinks more should be done.

He said that extreme weather alerts are still not easily available to the public even though the SMA wants to offer weather forecast services directly to rural households, factories, communities and schools.

To remedy the situation, many local meteorological bureaus are getting involved in disaster prevention education. Students with the Shungeng Middle School in Jinan City, east China's Shandong Province, have been given handbooks and illustrations about how to react in case of a lightning strike.

Wang Jianguo, director of the Shandong Meteorological Bureau, said that an efficient way of spreading lightning strike prevention skills was to talk to the public face-to-face.

The lightning prevention guide released by the SMA provides a long list of advice, including not touching water pipes, metal doors or windows, or electrical equipment during a lightning storm, staying away from water taps and staying away from trees and masts if caught in the open.