Lidia Jiaying, a Beijing-based research fellow at the Institute of International Studies of the University of Canberra, said the project was unique in its broad geographic scope, which could be implemented by all countries.

“They could be looking in a location like the Philippines, for example, and it would be very useful to be able to help them in managing the floods they experienced,” she said. “But also it would facilitate a wider collaboration with China, if they feel there are some kind of natural disasters that they may have to deal with.”

Beijing has built a network of dams and reservoirs on its borders to help cope with floods during major storms. It is also constructing a high-tech weather forecasting facility on a plateau overlooking the Gobi desert to improve its weather forecast and control flooding in a flood-prone area. It plans to build five more large-scale artificial islands – the largest would be 12 hectares (40 acres) long and one kilometre (6.5 yards) wide by two kilometres (1 mile) long – in the Gobi in the near future.

At least three million people in the provinces of Guangxi and Hunan are affected by the floods, and they often affect regions that are poor and have little rainfall.

Chinese scientists were able to estimate the scale on top of information from weather stations. With satellite tracking, the team was able to predict where the waves could inundate with ease.