The Songhua River pollution, the bird flu outbreaks and the mine accidents that happened one after another have made it urgent for Chinese government to build up an emergency response system.

A general plan on emergency response, issued by the State Council, China's cabinet, on Sunday, will become the guidance on prevention and treatment of various incidents in China.

Based on lessons and experiences at home and abroad, the emergency response plan aims to increase the government's capability to protect public safety, deal with unexpected incidents, minimize the losses of the incidents, maintain social stability, and promote the harmonious and sustainable development of the country.

In 2005, natural disasters combined in China left 2,475 people dead, with 15.7 million displaced, 2.264 million houses collapsed and direct economic losses totaling 204.21 billion yuan (25.53 billion U.S. dollars), the most serious in recent years, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Ding Ningning, an official with the State Development and Reform Commission, said that a powerful anti-public incident ability could help to polish a confident and mature government image.

The plan stipulates that the State Council is the highest organ in the management of emergency response. An office in charge of emergency response management will be set up by the State Council to collect information of various incidents and coordinate the emergence response work.

Expert team will be formed if needed to offer suggestions on decisions during the emergency response work.

The plan applies to dealing with serious incidents involving several provinces. So far, all the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in China have made corresponding plans. Therefore, an elementary emergency response framework has been set up in China.

Incidents are divided into four categories by the plan, including natural disasters, accidents, public health incidents and social safety incidents.

According to their character, degree of harm, controlling possibility and scale of influence, the incidents are ranked as Class I (most serious), Class II (serious), Class III (relatively serious) and Class IV (ordinary). The alarm of the incidents will be shown with colors of red, orange, yellow and blue respectively.

The plan stipulates that if a Class I or Class II incident happens, it should be reported to the State Council within four hours.

The information about incidents should also be open to public timely and accurately. The public should be informed of the class of the incident, its starting time, possible influence scale and responding measures, according to the plan.

The alarm information will be released on radio, TV, newspapers, Internet and other media. Special methods will be taken to make sure the elderly, the patients in hospitals and teachers and students in schools can get the information, the plan says.

The plan also clarifies the responsibilities of the departments in the fields of manpower, finance, material resources, transportation, medical care, communications and so on.

Those who make outstanding contributions to emergency response will be awarded, while those who fail to report the true state of incidents or cover up accidents will be punished according to law and regulations, the plan says.

After the Songhua River pollution incident in 2005, the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) failed to pay due attention to the incident and has underestimated its possible serious impact.

The director of SEPA Xie Zhenhua resigned for the environmental incident, and he is another ministerial official after the then Health Minister Zhang Wenkang and Beijing Mayor Meng Xuenong, who were removed from their posts for failing to respond properly to 2003's SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) crisis.

"An accountable government should not only be able to cope with public affairs in normal conditions, but to respond promptly and calmly towards emergencies," said Wang Angsheng, the director of disaster control committee under China's think tank, China's Academy of Sciences.

Source: Xinhua