Training urged for rescuers

Every major city should have a disaster rescue team of professionals and well-trained volunteers, experts suggest. Good equipment would help, too.

"Emergency relief should not always become a task for soldiers," said Xu Guangjian, deputy director of Renmin University's public administration school. "If Wenzhou city has a strong emergency rescue team of its own, I am sure the rescue work could be better."

Besides official rescue teams, hundreds of nongovernmental rescue teams operate in China, said Lu Zhonghong, leader of the Lvye rescue team in Beijing. However, he said only a dozen of these grassroots groups reach the level of professional teams.