China to Integrate Disaster Warning Systems
Date: 11-Jan-05
Country: CHINA
The different government departments that monitored and supervised earthquakes, mud slides and floods had incompatible systems which needed to be integrated, the newspaper said.
"China is poised to upgrade its early warning natural disaster system following the devastation in southern Asia," it said.
Natural disasters in China had cost 150 billion yuan ($18 billion) a year over the past decade, it said.
"The tsunami disaster has caused unprecedented losses and shows it can happen when there is a lack of an efficient early warning and reporting system," Zou Ming, deputy director of the disaster and social relief department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, was quoted as saying.
China suffers widespread flooding and drought each year, causing huge loss of life. Earthquakes are common and typhoons often strike during summer.
International co-operation was key to improving the warning system, he said, something China would discuss with members of the Association of South East Asian Nations at a meeting later this month.
The tsunami killed at least 156,000 people in 13 countries around the Indian Ocean on Dec. 26.