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U.S. HELPS NAME TROPICAL CYCLONES IN THE WESTERN NORTH PACIFIC AND SOUTH CHINA SEA

This year tropical storms and typhoons in the Western North Pacific and South China Sea will have names chosen from a new list which replaces the list of English names used in years past. The Typhoon Committee of the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and the World Meteorological Organization have released a list of names compiled by its 14 member states, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the agency representing the U.S. The names were selected from local languages of the area in an effort to raise the awareness of tropical cyclones by using familiar local words.

"I believe we came up with an excellent list," said Richard H. Hagemeyer, U.S. representative to the typhoon committee and director of the National Weather Service Pacific region. "Coming up with a list of 130 names that were acceptable to everyone was not an easy task but well worth the effort. We all agreed that using local names that people recognize should encourage them to pay more attention to the warnings."

This year's first named storm will be called "Damrey", meaning elephant in Cambodian. The U.S. contributed 10 names of Palauan, Marshallese, and Chamorro origen.

The names, their meanings, and phonetic pronunciation, courtesy of the Hong Kong Observatory, are available on the Internet at: http://www.weather.gov.hk/informtc/sound/tcname2000e.htm. Users can also hear the names pronounced in the local language by downloading the online software. Additional information on tropical cyclones may be found at http://hurricanes.noaa.gov/