JEDDAH — The CEO of the National Center of Meteorology (NCM), Dr. Ayman Ghulam, has launched the Rasd 3 exercise with the aim of raising the level of preparedness in dealing with potential weather phenomena in the Saudi Arabian airspace. The Rasd (Monitoring) exercise was launched in Jeddah in the presence of representatives from 33 entities affiliated with the General Secretariat of the National Risk Council to enhance cooperation and harmonize its procedures in dealing with weather phenomena. Dr. Ghulam stated that the exercise aims to strengthen and support the parties involved in carrying out tasks and responsibilities in emergency situations within the early warning mechanism for weather phenomena. Rasd 3 also aims to activate cooperation and continuous development through implementing the exercise and joint hypotheses that help achieve integration with all participating parties. Dr. Ghulam confirmed the center"s readiness to provide all the requirements of the concerned authorities to contribute to facilitating their field tasks in preserving people"s lives as well as the safety of property. During the launch, the capabilities possessed by the exercise and the updated mechanism for reporting weather phenomena were reviewed. The most important points and inquiries directed by representatives of the participating entities were also answered. The NCM will launch the actual exercise on Friday by conducting a hypothesis about a weather phenomenon affecting one of the regions of Saudi Arabia. The launch of the exercise comes in implementation of the recommendations of the national workshop related to modernizing the reporting and cooperation mechanism in dealing with weather phenomena, which was held by NCM last June in Riyadh.