Disaster Relief Calls For Concerted Efforts

Anchor: China is no stranger to various kinds of natural disasters. Its complex geological conditions and diverse climate patterns trigger frequent natural calamities around the nation and lead to staggering losses each year. During the ongoing session of the National People's Congress in Beijing, disaster prevention and relief became a hot topic among deputies and experts.

Zhao Kun has the story.

On May 12th of 2008, an 8-magnitude earthquake ravaged Sichuan, a populous province in southwest China, claiming the lives of more than 70,000 people. In spite of the daunting task of reconstruction ahead, the province has made remarkable progress in less than three years. NPC deputy Wu Zegang is the governor of Aba Autonomous Prefecture, the quake epicenter and one of the most affected areas.

"By the end of last year, 90% of the reconstruction projects were completed and 90% of investment money was already in place. Most resources have been put in infrastructure construction and livelihood improvement while the remaining is being used for ecological restoration. I would say our progress has greatly outperformed the objectives set by the central government."

At the annual session of the NPC on Saturday morning, premier Wen Jiabao gave Sichuan's recovery work a positive comment. He said the province has won major victories in the fight against the earthquake.

But since the Sichuan earthquake, natural disasters never stopped haunting the nation. According to the latest report released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, nearly 80,000 people lost their lives in natural disasters in 2010 alone, and more than 18 million people had to be relocated in the aftermath of these catastrophes. Meanwhile, the total direct loss due to natural calamities reached 500 billion yuan, or about 75 billion US dollars.

In light the succession of natural disasters, Professor Wang Hongwei of Public Administration at Beijing's Renmin University, notes that local communities should play a bigger role in case of emergencies.

"Some countries have a very complete and quick response network, which starts from communities. But in China, disaster relief is so dependent on government orders, and mobility of social resources and costs of recovery efforts may sometimes exceed what's actually needed."

Impressed by the Chinese government's efficiency in disaster relief, Professor Wang suggests a combination of both government orders and concerted efforts made by different social organizations and ordinary people.

Since the outbreak of SARS epidemic in 2003, China began legislative efforts to deal with emergent events and natural disasters by adopting the Law on Response to Emergencies in 2007. But Wang Hongwei says the law serves as the parent act and the country is still in dire need of more supporting regulations and policies in regard to non-profit organizations, psychological therapy, international cooperation and corporate obligations.

For CRI, I'm Zhao Kun.