【Commentary】May 2023, 5 is the 12th anniversary of the Wenchuan earthquake and the <>th National Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Day. What new explorations has China made in earthquake and disaster prevention in the past <> years? On the eve of the <>th anniversary of the Wenchuan earthquake, the reporter interviewed Gao Mengtan, an expert who had been deeply involved in Wenchuan's disaster relief work.
Gao Mengtan, researcher and distinguished expert of the Institute of Geophysics, China Earthquake Administration, and high-end think tank expert of China Disaster Defense Association
At the time of the Wenchuan earthquake, the most serious damage was Beichuan County, its basic (important emergency rescue) institutions were destroyed, Beichuan County People's Hospital can hardly operate, Beichuan's emergency rescue forces (related facilities, etc.), these institutions are buried under the landslide, not only our country, you like Japan should say that in disaster prevention should be done in the world, or do a relatively good job, but in the "3.11 earthquake" also this kind of problem also appeared.
In this regard, the construction of Xiong'an New Area is a good model, such as this emergency (rescue-related) site, command organization, data center, hospital, etc., what kind of standard is adopted? It is the largest earthquake destructive force that can occur in that place, and according to this (seismic standard) design, it (can) ensure that when a relatively large earthquake occurs in the future, it (also) can function normally.
In 2015, the fifth generation of the "China Earthquake Motion Parameter Zoning Map" was promulgated, as the editor-in-chief of the fifth generation zoning map, Gao Mengtan said that the new standard plays an important role in serving social and economic development and ensuring the safety of people's lives and property.
Gao Mengtan, researcher and distinguished expert of the Institute of Geophysics, China Earthquake Administration, and high-end think tank expert of China Disaster Defense Association
A seismic zoning map, in language that we can easily understand, is a map of the distribution of earthquake hazards. It turned out that about one-third of the country's territory was undefended, and through analysis and demonstration, we turned all the undefended areas into fortified areas. Another change is the increased seismic requirements for large cities near large fault zones, and the safety of more than 1 million people may have improved since the implementation of our five-generation map.
Gao Mengtan said that the detection of hazard sources and risk sources is the basic work of scientific emergency rescue, and so far, a round of census has basically been carried out across the country, providing important reference data for risk prevention and post-disaster rescue.
Gao Mengtan, researcher and distinguished expert of the Institute of Geophysics, China Earthquake Administration, and high-end think tank expert of China Disaster Defense Association
Knowing which earthquake is the most destructive, and it is impossible to determine where the disaster is the worst, it is also related to the distribution of hazard sources and the distribution of risk sources. That is to say, where your population is concentrated, where the buildings are fragile, it (these situations) is the more important cause of serious disasters. Therefore, in recent years, the state has spent a lot of effort on the investigation of two sources (dangerous sources and risk sources), and this data is very valuable. In the future, once a major earthquake occurs, we have the technology of seismology, know where the most destructive force, and know where the house building is the most vulnerable, and when the two are superimposed, we can immediately determine where the hardest hit area is.
In the past, there was a problem of poor information flow between different departments in post-earthquake disaster relief, which affected the development of rescue work to a certain extent. In recent years, with the establishment of the Ministry of Emergency Management and the development of new technologies, the efficiency of information connection between departments and the ability of linkage rescue have been effectively improved.
Gao Mengtan, researcher and distinguished expert of the Institute of Geophysics, China Earthquake Administration, and high-end think tank expert of China Disaster Defense Association
In 2018, the Ministry of Emergency Management was formed, and a very important function is to integrate resources to improve the capacity and efficiency of catastrophe relief. The survey of the risk of major natural disasters carried out in recent years is to centralize the survey data of various departments for unified analysis and processing. One is to understand the current situation, and in the event of a sudden catastrophe, especially a major earthquake, we can use this information to judge the disaster. Another aspect of data, that is, space earth observation data, one is aviation, and unmanned aerial vehicles, these resources can now basically be shared, these aspects I think than the Wenchuan earthquake mechanism is more perfect, faster speed.
Xie Longfei reported from Beijing
Responsible Editor: [Fang Jialiang]