Beijing, 8 Aug (ZXS) -- Xiong Zili, director of the Department of Geological Exploration and Management of China's Ministry of Natural Resources, disclosed in Beijing on 23 August that from January to July this year, a total of 23,1 geological disasters occurred in China, and 7 geological disasters occurred that caused the death and disappearance of people, resulting in 1243 deaths and direct economic losses of about 26.52 million yuan.
At a press conference held by the Ministry of Natural Resources on the same day, Xiong Zili also revealed that in the first seven months of this year, China successfully predicted a total of 7 geological disasters, avoiding 132,1606 possible casualties.
"Seven downs and eight ups" has always been a critical period for China's annual flood control. According to the statistics of the meteorological department, from July 7 to August 16 this year, China's heavy rainfall area was concentrated and extreme, with a total of 8 heavy rainfall processes in the country, and North China and Northeast China were hit by 15 heavy rainfall processes, of which the daily precipitation in many places in North China broke historical records.
Xiong Zili said that from July 7 to August 15 this year, the Ministry of Natural Resources issued 8 issues of national geological disaster meteorological risk warning products. In response to the 16 provinces affected by multiple rounds of heavy rainfall and typhoons "Dusuri" and "Kanu", 73 geological disaster prevention level III. and IV responses were launched, and 18 working groups and stationed experts led by department-level cadres were dispatched to strengthen risk assessment and early warning issuance in conjunction with local natural resources authorities.
In terms of marine disaster prevention, in response to the three typhoon processes, the Ministry of Natural Resources launched a total of 4 marine disaster emergency responses, issued a total of 57 marine disaster warnings, and conducted 19 emergency video consultations. A total of 4 batches of working groups were dispatched to Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang and 4 cities in 5 provinces and Liaoning to carry out on-site surveys, disaster investigation and impact assessment.
Xiong Zili pointed out that at present, China is still in the main flood period, heavy rain, floods, typhoons and other disasters in many places in the country are still high, the soil moisture content in some mountainous areas of North China and Northeast China has been saturated, and the risk of geological disasters is high. In the next step, the Ministry of Natural Resources will urge all localities to continue to pay close attention to key areas, including county towns, key market towns, schools, hospitals and other concentrated residential areas, as well as areas with a large number of mobile people such as traffic arteries, mountain roads, key reservoir areas, and tourist attractions. Strengthen prevention during key periods such as long-duration rainfall, short-term local heavy rainfall, rapid changes in drought and flooding, and heavy rain in the middle of the night. At the same time, it will also strengthen consultation, study and judgment, monitoring and early warning. (End)