China strengthens disaster prevention, relief education

BEIJING -- China will hold over 1,000 lectures on earthquake resistance and disaster relief nationwide this year as the country made persistent efforts on raising public awareness and capability of disaster reduction.

The lectures will be held in schools, government agencies, enterprises, communities and villages in forms including expert instruction, emergency first-aid training and evacuation drills, the China Earthquake Administration said on the launch ceremony of the lectures Sunday.

In addition, the first open online course on earthquake resistance and disaster relief was also held, showing the correct way to respond to earthquakes by introducing a number of vivid cases.

Sunday also marked China's 11th national day for disaster prevention and relief, which commemorates the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake that left more than 80,000 people dead or missing.

The day was established in 2009 to raise public awareness of disaster prevention and to increase knowledge and skills to enable survivors to better cope during and after disasters.

The theme for 2019 is to raise capability of disaster prevention and reduction, and construct safety line for life, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management.

Plenty of activities on disaster reduction have been carried out including first-aid skill contests and drills to beef up the country's disaster prevention capability, the ministry said.