Experts call for improved management of volunteer groups

China must strengthen the management of volunteer rescue teams to ensure their orderly development and regulate their participation in disaster relief operations, insiders have said.

While volunteer outfits have provided essential assistance in emergency situations in recent years, a lack of coordination and poor communications have occasionally hampered emergency efforts.

For example, in August 2014, when a magnitude 6.5 earthquake hit Ludian county, Yunnan province, Li Feng, head of the Green Boat Emergency Rescue, assessed the level of damage with senior colleagues and then dispatched a 15-strong team to the affected area.