Experts have called on the government to speed up the establishment of a more effective public emergency response system following the occurrence of a number of natural disasters and accidents.

Wang Zhijian, deputy chief executive of the National Workplace Emergency Center, said China lags far behind developed countries in disaster prevention and in rescue work.

"Our rescue teams lack adequate equipment," he said.

"Rescuers often work in dangerous areas, and we usually don't receive timely information on cross-regional accidents, as there is still difficulty in information sharing."

Fan Weicheng of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said China is working on a rapid-response system encompassing the central government and grassroots units to tackle emergencies.

"Governments at all levels are busy setting up an emergency response management bureau, and drafting a law regulating counter-measures to be taken in emergency cases," he said.

In the advent of a serious emergency, how to achieve surveillance, get to know the situation at first hand, predict developing trends and consequences, as well as to make the right decisions, are all a rapid response system should be able to do, he said.

Such a system will consist of emergency command centers, available supporting hardware and software, as well as a pre-installed analysis program.

"In case of an emergency, the system will produce several viable plans, and make predictions based on an analysis of the situation on the spot, for commanders to decide," he said.

Qiu Ruitian, deputy director of the Office of State Flood Control and Draught Relief Headquarters, said the country needs to upgrade its disaster prevention work in case of floods or droughts.

Global climate change is triggering more adverse weather in the country, he said.

"The number of rainstorms, and temperatures are increasing, and more frequent droughts and typhoons of greater scale have been occurring in recent years," Qiu said.

Seven typhoons and tropical storms hit the country last year. The first typhoon, Chanchu, last year occurred 40 days earlier than usual, and typhoon Bilis lasted the longest on record.

Severe droughts were also prevalent last year, with many rivers and lakes drying up.

The water level of the Yangtze River hit a record low during the same period, and an extremely serious drought plagued Southwest China's Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality, advents rarely seen in the past century.

(China Daily May 16, 2007)