Scope of geological disaster prevention expanded

Editor’s note: China’s Ministry of Natural Resources recently released an implementation plan for national geological disaster prevention and control during the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) period. China Central Television spoke to Yang Xudong, a senior engineer at the ministry’s geological disaster technical guidance center, on the importance of the plan. Below are excerpts of the interview. The views don’t necessarily represent those of China Daily.

China’s approach to geological disaster prevention has evolved over time. Initially, efforts focused on community-based monitoring and professional inspections. Later, authorities promoted the large-scale use of high-precision remote sensing and mapping technologies while advancing the development and deployment of universal monitoring equipment. These efforts, however, focused mainly on known hazard sites where clear signs of ground deformation had already been detected.

The country is now entering a new phase that directly addresses widespread shallow landslides and debris flows triggered by extreme rainfall. Unlike conventional geological hazards, these disasters often develop without any visible warning signs and occur suddenly during intense rainfall, making them extremely difficult to detect and forecast with traditional methods.

Since these hazards have neither been previously identified nor shown obvious precursory signs, they fall outside the scope of known geological hazard sites established through conventional methods. Consequently, even if all identified hazard points are effectively managed, significant risks remain across broader areas. Therefore, it is crucial to expand disaster prevention from safeguarding individual hazard sites to managing risks across entire regions.

Such disasters cannot be effectively addressed simply by deploying more personnel or monitoring equipment. Recognizing this challenge, the new plan outlines seven key tasks covering dynamic investigations, monitoring and early warning, comprehensive risk mitigation, and a dual-control management system that combines oversight of both known hazard sites and broader risk zones.

More fundamentally, the plan shifts the guiding philosophy of geological disaster prevention toward reducing disaster risks, extending prevention efforts from isolated hazard points to comprehensive area-wide risk management.

The plan also designates 21 key prevention zones, up from 16 during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period. The zones cover about 2.97 million square kilometers for landslides, rockfalls, debris flows and ground subsidence, as well as 280,000 sq km for ground settlement and earth fissures.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China established an integrated monitoring and early-warning system that combined human expertise with technological support. Automated monitoring and early-warning facilities were installed at 75,000 geological hazard sites with relatively high risks across 27 provincial-level regions.

Additionally, an integrated meteorological risk warning platform was established, linking provincial, municipal and county authorities. This platform achieved full county-level coverage of geological disaster weather risk forecasting in all disaster-prone areas nationwide.

According to the new plan, during the 15th Five-Year Plan period the country will further optimize its automated monitoring network while leveraging artificial intelligence, digital twin technologies and other advanced tools to enhance the identification of hidden hazards and the accuracy of disaster forecasting and early warning systems.

This shift reflects a more scientific understanding that, under increasingly extreme weather conditions, some disasters remain inherently difficult to prevent with existing technologies. The plan also emphasizes public education, training, and emergency drills tailored to different groups, including disaster management officials, technical professionals, community-based monitors, and the general public.