The Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters in central China's Hubei Province has dispatched a special group to inspect reservoir safety in the province.

Hubei Province has received heavy rainfall recently, raising water levels in 851 reservoirs above warning lines.

The headquarters on Tuesday released an urgent notice, urging all the province's reservoir managers to intensify inspection of the area around reservoirs, and detect and deal with incidents immediately to ensure safety.

Minister of Water Resources Wang Shucheng also stressed that great efforts must be made to ensure the country's reservoirs stand solidly amid floods.

China has 86,000 reservoirs, of which 30,413 are threatened, making up 36 percent of the total.

The Chinese government has earmarked 11.2 billion yuan to repair and reinforce threatened reservoirs located in densely populated areas, economic centers and communications hubs.

(Xinhua News Agency July 17, 2003)