Chapter 6 - GFDRR

Steadily Pushing Forward Development of
Disaster Prevention and Reduction Projects
The Chinese government has increased inputs
in key disaster prevention and reduction projects
and infrastructure, such as those concerning
flood control and drought relief, earthquake
prevention and resistance, typhoon and storm
surge prevention, desertification and sandstorm
control, and ecological construction. It has
engaged in a series of disaster prevention and
reduction projects, including flood control on
major rivers and small and medium-sized rivers,
mountain torrent disaster prevention, seepage
prevention and reinforcement for unsafe reservoirs,
geological disaster and soil erosion prevention
and control, highway disaster prevention,
housing renovation for impoverished rural
residents, drinking water safety in rural areas,
and ecological construction and environmental
improvement, all of which effectively improved
the nation’s capability in natural disaster prevention.
Through the flood control project on
major rivers, China has accelerated its harnessing
of major rivers and lakes, and the pivotal
water conservancy projects at the Three Gorges
on the Yangtze River, Xiaolangdi on the Yellow
River, and Linhuaigang on the Huaihe River are
playing their full part. China’s flood control capability
on major rivers has been further improved.
It has also implemented the earthquake-resistance
program for construction and engineering
projects and improved the earthquake security
assessment management system for major
construction projects. China has also pushed
forward the rural housing earthquake-resistance
program nationwide. Since 2001, it has implemented
renovation projects for high-risk buildings
in primary and middle schools throughout
the country. Since 2009, it has implemented the
safe school building project, in which school
buildings have been reinforced nationwide
to meet the earthquake-resistance standards
applied for key projects, and the overall capabilities
of schools in earthquake resistance and disaster
prevention have been enhanced.
Strengthening the Study of Natural Disaster
Risk Assessment Technology
In recent years, the relevant Chinese government
departments have consistently strengthened
the scientific study of disaster risk modeling
and assessment and have enhanced the
work of regional demonstration. They have established
specialized databases for comprehensive
disaster risk prevention work and studied
development risk assessment models for coping
with such natural disasters as drought, flood,
typhoon, earthquake, landslide and mud-rock
flow, snowstorm, frost, and hailstorm. They have
constructed rough models for national-scale
and provincial-scale single-disaster risk and
multidisaster comprehensive risk assessment
and have completed demonstrative assessment.
They have also compiled and published the
Atlas of Natural Disasters in China, the Atlas of
Natural Disaster System of China, and the Atlas
of Natural Disaster Risks in China and have finished
a compilation of a series of works on a comprehensive
risk prevention system, which covers
scientific issues, key technologies, standards
and regulations, modeling methodology, database
and charting, disaster relief guarantee, and
transfer of comprehensive natural disaster risks.
Actively Pushing Forward Natural Disaster
Insurance
Since 2004, the Chinese government has
launched disaster insurance trial programs
that focus on agricultural insurance and rural
housing insurance. As the relevant national
policies have been released, the Chinese government
has defined the role of disaster insurance
as a guarantee for disaster relief, and the disaster
insurance work has developed in a healthy
and orderly manner thanks to the guidance,
support, and supervision of the government.
In 2007, the government adopted the policy of
using the central fiscal funds to subsidize agricultural
insurance costs, which combined the
roles of the government and the market, the
124 Improving the Assessment of Disaster Risks to Strengthen Financial Resilience