The Ministry of Land and Resources warned the coastal provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong yesterday of the potential dangers of mud slides during this year's typhoon season, which the Meteorological Administration predicts will be severe, Xinhua news agency reported today.

The state is prone to more typhoons this year due to the impact of "La Niña," said Xu Xiaofeng, a deputy director of the administration. La Niña is a climatic phenomenon in which cooler than normal waters appear in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean.

The Ministry of Land and Resources has set its inland priority to the Three Gorges Reservoir area. It has also notified Hubei Province and Chongqing Municipality to take precautionary measures of moving potentially hazardous projects in the reservoir area and reinforcing and heightening flood walls.

The ministry also issued warnings to inland Hunan, Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan provinces of heavy rainfalls,

"Generally speaking, preparatory efforts equal 10 times that of the rescue work if a disaster really happens," said Yuan Xiaosu, a vice minister at the Land and Resource Department. The ministry also ordered all local land resource authorities to specify responsibilities in disaster prevention operations, design emergency response plans and the issuing of practical information, such as escape routes and emergency survival guides to all residents.

(Shanghai Daily April 20, 2006)