China has complied 105 national emergency response programs since the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003, said a Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) director Wednesday.

Zhang Qia, deputy director of the Population, Resources and Environment Committee of the CPPCC, a national advisory body, said at the Seminar on Urban Public Safety and Emergency Response that the programs concern natural disasters, accidents and threats to public health and social security.

All of the country's provinces have formulated their own emergency response programs, Zhang said.

A number of cities have experimented with public safety early-warning and emergency response systems, including Nanning, capital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, south China; Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province, east China; and the coastal city of Qingdao in Shandong Province, east China, said Zhang.

Xu Ruixin, president of the Association of Community Service of China, however, said China has to improve its public safety and emergency response system. There are no unified emergency command and management systems in many cities, resulting in low efficiency in responses.

The 2003 SARS outbreak in China found the country ill-prepared for the disease. This prompted the Chinese leadership to increase investment in its national public health system.

Chinese cities have yet to make the best use of information technology and space technology and to improve efficiency.

(Xinhua News Agency March 30, 2005)