(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-06-05 23:26

BEIJING - Local education departments, schools and kindergartens should organize emergency evacuation and rescue exercises due to floods in south China in recent days, according to a circular issued by the Ministry of Education Thursday.

It ordered local education department, schools and kindergartens to start emergency response plans and to carry out safety checks over school buildings, especially those hit by the floods in southern areas.

Buildings in a dangerous state should be abandoned immediately, it said.

Hidden dangers, including nearby hills where landslides may happen, should be cleared. If the problems couldn't be cleared at the moment, a school may either change the class schedule, begin summer vacation earlier, or relocate the students to safe places.

Southwestern Guizhou, along with Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi and Guangdong provinces, have received heavy rain in recent days.

Torrential rains had caused at least 39 deaths and forced the evacuation of 113,000 people in Guizhou alone, according to the provincial flood control headquarters.

The circular also ordered schools in quake-hit areas to be prepared for  disasters including aftershocks, floods, mud flows and epidemics.