Public participation & international cooperation

5. Establishing a Personnel Training System and Improving the Quality of Disaster Relief Personnel

Education on disaster prevention and reduction personnel is incorporated into the national talent development program. A national education system and a training platform for disaster reductio n have been gradually established.

Incorporating disaster reduction into the national education system. Efforts have been made to strengthen personnel training and education, train multi-tiered disaster prevention and reduction personnel by making use of disaster reduction research and the academic advantages of institutions of higher learning; strengthen academic system building for disaster prevention and reduction. Within the framework of the current financial management system, financial support is given to universities and technical colleges that run courses in disaster prevention and reduction, or have established majors in disaster prevention and reduction management and technology, in order to improve the quality of relevant personnel.

Incorporating disaster prevention and reduction into the training programs for officials. In line of the needs of personnel training, colleges of administration and schools for officials at various levels in China have opened training courses on disaster prevention and reduction, and emergency management. National emergency management personnel training bases are under construction, which will provide disaster prevention and reduction as well as emergency management training to senior civil servants, senior executives of enterprises and public institutions, and senior theoretical workers. A national earthquake emergency rescue training base has been established and put in operation.

Offering special training courses on disaster emergency management for leading officials. Classes on disaster emergency management for leading officials at the provincial level and classes on unexpected incidents emergency management for officials at the provincial and ministerial level have been held. The participants were leading officials of provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government) and relevant departments of the State Council who were responsible for disaster prevention and reduction, and emergency management work. Since 2005, special training in disaster emergency management for civil servants has been actively carried out, which has effectively helped to improve the overall quality and ability of disaster emergency management personnel at various levels in preventing and dealing with natural disasters and other unexpected incidents. In 2005 and 2006, four special training courses on disaster emergency management for city- and prefecture-level officials were held. Since 2006, four training courses have been held on flood control and drought combat for city- and prefecture-level administrative officials in charge of flood control and drought combat.

Carrying out emergency rescue training for enterprises and emergency rescue teams. Governments at all levels, in cooperation with related departments, have adopted the method of combining concentrated training with training on their own, to carry out training in disaster prevention and reduction, emergency management for heads of enterprises, management personnel and emergency rescue team members, in order to improve their capability in carrying out rescue efforts, self-protection and coordination in the event of disasters.

6. Carrying Out Disaster Reduction Work and Improving Disaster Prevention and Reduction Capability in Communities

Disaster reduction capability building in communities is being carried out in an all-round way. The ability of primary-level communities to fend off disaster risks has been gradually improved.

Encouraging communities to establish disaster reduction work mechanisms. Promoted by governments at all levels, organizations responsible for disaster reduction work in communities have been gradually established throughout the country, standard disaster reduction rules have been formulated, disaster relief volunteer teams have been organized, and measures for the protection of vulnerable groups including children, senior citizens, the sick and the disabled have been formulated. An effective disaster reduction work mechanism has thereby been established.

Guiding communities in drawing up plans for emergency response to disasters and carrying out related exercises on a regular basis. According to the General State Emergency Response Plan for Unexpected Public Emergencies, the State Emergency Relief Plan for Natural Disasters and other emergency response plans of local governments, the primary-level governments shall guide communities in formulating communities' emergency relief plans, defining emergency response working procedures, management responsibilities and joint coordination mechanisms in view of the local environment, the pattern of disaster occurrence and characteristics of community residents. With the support and help of related departments of the government, communities frequently organize residents to carry out emergency response exercises in various forms.

Improving public facilities and equipment for disaster reduction in communities. With government financial support and active public participation, communities may use parks, green land, public squares, sports venues, parking lots, school playgrounds and other open spaces to establish emergency shelters, put up clear emergency safety signs and instruction boards, establish public education places (community disaster reduction classrooms, community libraries, leisure rooms for senior citizens, etc) and facilities (boards, bulletins, etc) for disaster reduction, and install necessary fire control and safety facilities for disasters as well as lifesaving appliances, in order to improve public disaster-reduction facilities and equipment.

Organizing communities to carry out disaster-reduction publicity and education. Proceeding from their respective cultural and regional characteristics, communities may carry out disaster-reduction education in various forms at regular intervals, frequently post disaster-reduction publicity materials in community education venues, and formulate disaster-reduction educational plans based on their specific conditions, so as to enhance the residents' awareness of disaster prevention and reduction and comprehensive disaster-reduction capability.

Setting up disaster-reduction demonstration communities. In 2007, the State began to establish disaster-reduction demonstration communities. By 2008, 284 communities had been awarded the title of "National Comprehensive Disaster-reduction Demonstration Community" by the State.

V. Public Participation in Disaster Reduction

The Chinese government regards it important to give full play to the role of the public in disaster prevention and reduction, and supports and promotes wide public participation in such work by making people more aware and capable of disaster prevention and reduction. The Chinese government timely releases information on disaster situations and demands from disaster-hit areas. It has strengthened its guidance, standardized management and provided guarantee services. Meanwhile, it is making continuous efforts to improve its social mobilization mechanism, and integrate resources from both government and society to form a disaster relief pattern in which they will complement each other with their respective strengths. People of all walks of life are actively involved in disaster relief efforts whenever there is a big natural disaster. Compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan as well as overseas Chinese and foreigners of Chinese origin all provide aid and donations to disaster-hit areas in China. During the devastating Wenchuan earthquake of 2008, China received nearly 76 billion yuan-worth of donations and relief materials from both in and outside China. Personalized services such as psychological help from the public have also been effective in building the confidence of people in disaster-stricken areas.

Charities play a key role in disaster relief, and the government has adopted measures to support their development. In terms of the preferential taxation system that encourages public donations, the Enterprise Income Tax Law of the People's Republic of China, which became effective in January 2008, stipulates that the portion of expenses for charitable donations by enterprises is unified to within 12 percent of the total annual profit and it is to be deducted from the taxable income, instead of the 3 percent as was the practice before. After the Wenchuan earthquake, the government stipulated that donations from enterprises and individuals made through public welfare organizations, people's governments and their departments at or above the county level to disaster-hit areas can be totally deducted from the enterprises' and individuals' taxable income for the year. In December 2008, the government department concerned issued a notice detailing the scope of public welfare undertakings managing public welfare donations, the qualification of tax-free donations from public welfare organizations, and the authorization and procedures for certifying such qualifications. The State encourages the normal development of foundations. By the end of 2008, there were 1,531 foundations of various kinds in China, 162 more than in the previous year. In recent years, the government has been helping charity organizations to enhance their reputation, and promoting annual checkups and evaluations of such foundations.

The Chinese government is very supportive of making public donations a part of daily and social life, encouraging and guiding volunteers to take part in disaster prevention and reduction work. In recent years, public donations on a voluntary basis have become more regular and popular among general public across China. By the end of 2008, 34,000 public donation stations and charity venues in supermarkets had been established in China's large and medium-sized cities as well as in small cities with adequate conditions, preliminarily forming a regular national donation service network. The number of disaster reduction volunteers has increased rapidly with the continued progress in China's modernization and the improvement of people's living standard. By the end of last year, there were 430,000 community volunteer organizations, comprising nearly 100 million volunteers, among whom those belonging to the three major organizations - the Communist Youth League, Red Cross and civil administration - registered an increase of 14.72 million over 2007, an increase of 31.8 percent. After the Wenchuan earthquake, Chinese people, enterprises and social organizations were actively involved in related emergency relief work, with over three million volunteers from both in and outside China working in the quake-hit areas and more than 10 million volunteers participating in relief work in the rest of the country.

The Chinese government has made a point of conducting publicity and educational work for disaster prevention and reduction, organizing a rich variety of related activities on International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction each October. Government departments concerned and local governments have set up special bulletin boards focusing on disaster reduction in public venues. They also run special programs and columns for this purpose in newspapers and magazines, and on radio and TV, and in portal websites of the Internet, make advertisements to teach people the practical skills to avoid and cope with disasters.

Disaster prevention and reduction classes are offered in elementary and secondary schools, and many kinds of emergency response exercises are held. A series of related publicity and educational products have also been developed, including popular science readings, wall posters, audio-visual publications and case-study teaching materials. The Red Cross and other non-governmental organizations are playing a key role in raising the public's awareness and capability for disaster prevention and reduction by taking vigorous measures to conduct emergency aid training and to popularize related knowledge and skills.

The State pays special attention to policy studies and pilot work concerning the insurance industry's role in disaster prevention and reduction. Efforts are made continuously to sum up the experience of and improve the risk prevention and relief mechanism for agriculture and forestry, which combine natural-disaster insurance and State financial subsidies. Efforts are also being made to set up an overall mechanism to disperse the risks of disasters in the areas of agriculture and forestry, and to gradually enhance the ability of the insurance industry to effectively cover the economic loss and damage inflicted by natural disasters.

VI. International Cooperation in Disaster Prevention and Reduction

Adopting an open and cooperative attitude, China takes an active part in international efforts in the area of disaster reduction, in the construction and improvement of an international cooperative disaster-reduction mechanism, in building up a worldwide capacity in this regard, and in providing mutual aid with other countries in major natural disasters.

China has actively taken part in disaster-reduction cooperation within the framework of the United Nations, and has built up close partnership relations with many UN organizations, including the UN Development Program, UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, UN World Food Program, UN Food and Agricultural Organization and the UN Committee for the Peaceful Use of Outer Space. In March 2006, China donated US$1 million to the UN Central Emergency Response Fund. In November of the same year, the Chinese government and UN organizations in China jointly held a symposium on emergency aid in retrospective of the Indian Ocean tsunami, reviewing the use of China' s multilateral emergency aid. China has worked with the International Strategy Committee for Disaster Reduction in establishing the International Centre for Drought Risk Reduction, and has involved in the work of the United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UN-SPIDER) and has been proactive in setting up its Beijing Office. Experts sent from China have joined the UN disaster evaluation team, repeatedly undertaking UN tasks. Actively involved with the advisory country connected with UN international search and rescue activities, China has been vigorously promoting global cooperation in the aspect of disaster emergency relief, and hosted the UN's Asian-Pacific area earthquake emergency response practice in 2006.

China has played an active role in building up a dialogue and exchange platform for disaster reduction between Asian countries. In September 2005, the Chinese government hosted the first Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Beijing, which adopted the Beijing Action Plan for Reducing Disaster Risks in Asia and laid the basis for further cooperation between Asian countries in this regard. An active participant in the second and third Asian ministerial conferences, China, together with its Asian neighbors, was constructive in formulating the Delhi Declaration on Disaster Risk Reduction in Asia 2007, and the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on Disaster Risk Reduction 2008. In December 2008, China held a symposium on strengthening Asian countries' capability for coping with calamitous disasters.

China sets great store by discussing the signing of bilateral and multilateral agreements on disaster prevention and reduction with member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN) and countries in south Asia, and by human resources development and cooperation in this regard. In May 2005, China held a human resources training class on disaster prevention and reduction for countries suffering from the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. In May 2006, China hosted a China-ASEAN seminar on disaster prevention and reduction in Beijing. In 2007, China hosted a symposium on emergency response and disaster relief of ASEAN and Asian countries, a seminar on disaster risk management and a seminar on post-disaster reconstruction. China is actively involved in ASEAN's activities for disaster management, attending various kinds of symposiums sponsored by ASEAN, observing emergency response exercises, and discussing proactively the formation of a China-ASEAN cooperative agreement and action plan.

China has promoted inter-governmental cooperation in disaster relief among the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states. In April 2002, leaders of emergency relief departments of the SCO member states held their first meeting in Russia's St. Petersburg. In April 2003, an expert conference was held in Beijing to discuss the Inter-Governmental Mutual Aid Agreement among SCO Member States. In October 2005, this agreement was signed in Moscow. In November 2006, the second such meeting was held in Beijing, and adopted the 2007-2008 Action Plan for Mutual Aid in Disaster Relief among SCO Member States, which laid the framework for carrying out activities in disaster relief communications, information exchange, disaster relief in border areas, personnel training and technological exchanges. In September 2007, leaders of emergency relief departments of SCO member states held their third meeting in Bishkek, discussing the implementation of the agreement on disaster relief cooperation and furthering such cooperation. The SCO member states also decided to set up the SCO Natural and Man-made Disaster Relief Center. In late September 2008, China hosted the first meeting of the heads of border areas among SCO member states in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The meeting reached a consensus on issues concerning disaster relief cooperation in the border areas of SCO member states, expediting the establishment of a joint disaster-relief action mechanism in border areas, and information exchanges and personnel training.

In coping with major natural disasters, China has engaged in mutual support and aid with the international community. After the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004, China provided the largest emergency aid in its history, totaling 687.63 million yuan, to the affected countries and related UN agencies. It also promptly dispatched an international rescue team and a medical team to Indonesia. On Aug 29, 2005, hurricane Katrina hit the southern part of the United States. The Chinese government provided a relief fund of $5 million to the United States, together with a batch of emergency aid materials. After an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale rocked Pakistan on Oct 8, 2005, the Chinese government sent emergency humanitarian aid worth $26.73 million to that country. From Oct 9 to Nov 29, Chinese airplanes carried disaster relief materials on 26 flights to Pakistan, and Chinese international emergency rescue teams and medical teams were dispatched to the quake-hit areas. In 2008, after the strong tropical storm "Nargis" hit Myanmar, the Chinese government sent emergency aid materials worth $1 million to Myanmar, which was followed by relief funds of 30 million yuan and $10 million, as well as a medical team.

After the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, China received much support from the international community. Over 170 countries and regions, as well as more than 20 international organizations, provided funds totaling over 4.4 billion yuan and large batches of relief materials to China. Professional rescue and medical teams came from Russia, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Singapore to help with the emergency relief efforts in the affected areas. Nine medical teams with a total of 223 medical and technical workers were sent by the governments of the United Kingdom, Japan, Russia, Italy, France, Cuba, Indonesia, Pakistan and the Red Cross of Germany to participate in medical aid in the disaster-stricken areas of Sichuan and Gansu provinces. In Beichuan county, Sichuan province, one of the worst-hit areas, 16 volunteers from countries including the United States, United Kingdom and Mexico started their rescue work immediately after their arrival. A UK rescue group of ten volunteers also came to search for victims and the missing in the same areas. Many satellites, such as ALOS of Japan, COSMO-SkyMed of Italy and LandSat of the United States, offered remote-sensing images of the quake-hit areas. The Chinese government and people are deeply grateful for all this help.

Concluding Remarks

China is at an important stage of building an overall moderately prosperous society, and has a heavy and arduous task in its socio-economic development. Confronted with the increasingly serious threats of natural disasters, China has a long way to go in disaster prevention and reduction.

Although the Chinese government has made great efforts to reduce the risks and consequences of natural disasters, it is clearly aware that there exist inadequacies in the related work that need to be addressed immediately: The mechanism for coordinating and integrating relief efforts is not yet sufficient; the laws and regulations concerning disaster reduction as well as related policies need to be improved; a sound disaster monitoring system is yet to be set up; infrastructure construction for disaster prevention and reduction needs greater support; and the public awareness in this regard needs to be enhanced. With the aim of raising China's overall capacity for and level of natural disaster prevention and reduction, the Chinese government will continue to put people first and make it a core task to raise the comprehensive disaster reduction capacity of the whole society, that of the grassroots communities in urban and rural areas in particular, on the basis of improving public awareness of disaster prevention and reduction as well as disaster relief and self-rescue skills.

As natural disasters pose a common challenge to mankind, disaster reduction is a global effort. China will continue to work unremittingly to reduce the risks and damage posed by natural disasters together with the rest of the world for the development and progress of human society.

Xinhua

(China Daily 05/12/2009 page10)