China's Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA) has announced the start of a mobile short message pre-warning system that has been adopted in parts of China to warn users in the event of natural disasters.

Local media quoted an official from MCA as saying that the existing information release system in the country, which often fails to notify the public the first time when a catastrophe occurs, has previously delayed relief efforts. However, the official said that the new short message system has now helped solve the problem.

At present, MAC, the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) and the China Meteorology Administration are conducting preliminary research in Gansu, Anhui and Hunan to test the SMS warning system in the regions.

The detailed content, work procedures and implementation methods of the SMS warning system have not been released.