Tunis: The National Institute of Meteorology (French: INM) will shortly establish a comprehensive network of weather radars to cover the entire territory of Tunisia, INM Director General Ahmed Hmam revealed in an interview with TAP. An international call for tenders has been initiated for acquiring five radars, with the opening scheduled for 2025. The strategic placement of two radars in the north, two in the midland, and one in the south aims to ensure effective national coverage and facilitate instantaneous rainfall measurement. According to Agence Tunis Afrique Presse, this radar network is crucial for enhancing instant weather forecasting and instituting an early warning system. The INM is also engaged in additional projects, such as procuring an operating system for weather forecasting, particularly for aviation. This system will enable the electronic transmission of flight records containing meteorological data to aircraft crews. The INM is also planning a project to acquire and install a station for receiving and utilizing third-generation satellite images, with a tender call expected before May 2025. Additionally, the network of weather reporting stations at airports will be upgraded with new equipment for runways and the implementation of the ISO 9001 quality system across all INM activities and services. These initiatives are part of the Integrated Programme for Resilience to Natural Disasters, running from 2022 to 2027, which was introduced following the 2018 floods in the governorate of Nabeul. The programme focuses on four key areas: improving flood risk management in urban areas, enhancing disaster readiness, advancing natural disaster insurance, and fostering institutional coordination and environmental planning for climate risk and disaster management by establishing a permanent disaster resilience agency. The INM is charged with implementing the second axis of this programme, focused on bolstering disaster preparedness, in collaboration with the Agriculture Ministry and the National Office fo r Civil Protection (French: ONPC). The INM's responsibilities include building institutional capacity, modernizing monitoring and modeling systems, improving high-impact weather and flood forecasting, and enhancing meteorological and hydrological observation services, as well as hazard forecasting and early warning services.