The State Council passed a national program in principle for
coping with public emergencies at an executive meeting held in
Beijing on Wednesday.
The meeting, chaired by Premier Wen
Jiabao, also gave in principle approval to a plan for
ecological protection and construction in the Sanjiangyuan nature
reserve in the northwestern province of Qinghai.
The reserve is the source area of three major rivers: the Yangtze,
Yellow and Lancang.
On the public emergencies program, one meeting participant said,
"It is an important guideline for regional governments and various
departments to effectively handle public emergencies, safeguard the
life and property of the people and reduce disaster-triggered
losses."
The meeting noted that the program has to be tested and
improved, and there is still a lot of work to do in formulating
plans for grassroots units, forming a rapid-response rescue
mechanism, improving management and skills of rescue operations and
launching a disaster-relief awareness campaign.
According to the meeting, the plan for Sanjiangyuan aims to
protect and rejuvenate its ecology, promote environmentally sound
development and improve the lives of local citizens.
The meeting called the reserve, which covers 316,000 square
kilometers of area, China's most important and influential
environmental zone.
It called the implementation of the protection and construction
plan of "strategic importance to boosting sustainable development
of the whole country".
(Xinhua News Agency January 27, 2005)