Chen Wenjun:

Thank you, Mr. Zhou. Now the floor is open for questions. Please identify the media outlet you represent before raising questions. 

CCTV:

In 2016, General Secretary Xi Jinping instructed that in addressing natural disasters, prevention should come first and be complete with disaster resistance and relief, routine disaster mitigation should work well with disaster relief in abnormal cases, and three shifts must be achieved from prioritizing disaster relief to disaster prevention, from responding to different kinds of disasters separately to comprehensively mitigating disasters, and from reducing disaster losses to lowering disaster risks. These instructions have provided the fundamental principles for disaster prevention, mitigation, and relief. How have the instructions been implemented? What results have been achieved? 

Zhou Xuewen:

Thank you for your questions. General Secretary Xi Jinping made the instructions when he inspected Tangshan city, Hebei province, in July 2016, clarifying the direction and fundamental principles for disaster prevention and mitigation. The emergency management system has carried out an in-depth study of the instructions and firmly implemented them. The results are obvious: Disaster is now being forestalled at an earlier stage; the foundation for disaster mitigation is more solid; the mechanisms for disaster relief are more responsive. Specifically, there are three "new". 

First, we have established new mechanisms to integrate disaster prevention, resistance, and relief. We have further reformed the mechanisms for disaster prevention, mitigation, and relief, clarified the prevention and relief responsibilities among relevant departments, and worked hard to achieve the greatest synergy possible. We have set up mechanisms for the joint study of risks, disaster information access and sharing, unified command and scheduling, and disaster early warning among relevant departments. A flat emergency organization structure has been formed, in which officials lead on their post, people are stationed 24 hours a day for important positions, and the whole emergency management system remains highly responsive to safeguarding the lives and property of the people. 

Second, disaster prevention has reached a new level. We have carried out the first national survey on the comprehensive risks of natural disasters to learn about hidden risks and the state of prevention facilities, and accelerated efforts to address the deficiencies in disaster prevention and mitigation. A number of key initiatives have been launched, including ones to reinforce houses in earthquake-prone areas, improve water conservancy against floods and droughts, and relocate people at times of geological disasters. Our capacity to guard against natural disasters has improved remarkably. For example, the houses brought down by a 6.9-magnitude earthquake in Menyuan county, Qinghai province, in 2022 was only 5% of those brought down by a 6.4-magnitude earthquake that jolted the same area in 2016. The effects in housing reinforcement against earthquakes are obvious. 

Third, we have made new breakthroughs in our comprehensive support capacity. Investment in science and technology, materials, and equipment for disaster prevention, mitigation and relief has been gradually increased, and our support capacity has been notably strengthened. A total of six state-level regional emergency response and rescue centers have begun construction, forming a coordinated nationwide arrangement that can ensure rapid deployment for the needs of nearby areas. We have completed the task of increasing the storage of central emergency supplies worth nearly three billion yuan, further enhancing the capacity to respond to the peak demand in a major disaster. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) emergency response communication, large drainage vehicles, underwater robots and several other pieces of heavy equipment have been installed in succession, significantly improving the level of modern technical equipment.

According to our statistics, from 2018 to 2021, the country's annual average number of disaster-related deaths and missing people, the number of collapsed houses, and the annual average proportion of direct economic losses in GDP dropped by 51.6%, 73% and 44%, respectively, compared with the average during the five years ahead of reforms. Our system and mechanism reforms for disaster prevention, mitigation and relief have taken effect. Thank you.

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