(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-03-07 07:19

Premier Wen Jiabao said on Wednesday the past five years were a momentous period for China, as the country recorded rapid economic and social development amid some major disasters including the SARS outbreak, typhoons, floods and recent snow and ice storms, according to an article by Xinhua News Agency. The following is an excerpt:

China suffered great life and economic losses from the above-mentioned disasters, but the country is also learning to better deal with them.

Snow and ice storms plagued eastern and southern China in January and February, leading to widespread traffic jams, structural collapses, blackouts and crop losses in 19 provincial regions, leaving 129 people dead and causing 151.65 billion yuan ($21.3 billion) of losses.

Despite all those, China stepped out of the disaster in a short time, with the Ministry of Civil Affairs declaring the southern provinces were "in stable condition" on Feb 28.

The Chinese leadership has drawn lessons from the snow and ice storm, as Wen said in his work report: "We will learn from this large-scale natural disaster."

Wen vowed to accelerate the development of infrastructure, including electricity, transportation and telecommunications, to improve the capacity to resist disasters and maintain normal operations.

While joining NPC deputies from the eastern province of Jiangsu in group discussion on Wednesday, President Hu Jintao said: "The more advanced our society and economy, the more we have to be prepared for and be on guard against such risks."

The State Council, the Cabinet, established a headquarters in January to coordinate contingency measures for coal, oil and power supply, transportation and disaster relief in snow-hit areas, which effectively pooled resources from all over the country to combat the crisis.

The Chinese people joined hands at a time of hardship. Northern provinces, where snow storms are not rare, dispatched thousands of electricians to the southern regions to help restore the damaged power grid.

(China Daily 03/07/2008 page9)