Chapter 6 - GFDRR

fiscal and financial funds, and the public and
private sectors. Since then, the public has been
motivated to purchase insurance products while
the sustainable development of the disaster insurance
system has been ensured. From 2007 to
2011, China realized a total of nearly 60 billion
yuan (Y) of agricultural insurance premium
income, providing 580 million of insurance policies
worth about Y 1.8 trillion for peasant households,
from which farmers have benefited enormously.
In 2011, China’s agricultural insurance
premium income amounted to Y 17.4 billion, an
increase of 236 percent from 2007; 169 million of
agricultural insurance products were purchased
by peasant households, an increase of 240
percent from 2007. In the same year, China provided
an insurance guarantee of Y 650 billion,
an increase of 480 percent from 2007. According
to the statistics from the Property and Casualty
Company Limited under the People’s Insurance
Company (Group) of China Limited (PICC), in
the 2007–11 period, the rural housing insurance
program provided Y 1.9 trillion for 192 million
units of insurance policies for Chinese peasant
households, playing a positive role in helping
disaster-hit farmers rebuild their dwellings and
in providing services to agriculture, rural areas,
and farmers.
Vigorously Pushing Forward Community-
Based Natural Disaster Risk Management
The Chinese government attaches great importance
to community-based disaster risk reduction
management. It has established 2,843
National Comprehensive Disaster Reduction
Demonstration Communities to push forward
the establishment of a working mechanism for
disaster reduction in communities. It has also
devised a disaster emergency relief plan and
carried out the investigation of disaster risks
and hidden dangers in communities. In addition,
it has helped those communities compile
a disaster risk map so that residents can know
the distribution of disaster risks in those communities
and a roadmap for residents to use in
getting to shelter areas if disasters hit. Residents
are also taught basic methods and skills of selfaid
and mutual aid for disaster prevention and
reduction. The government has implemented
the construction of some demonstration counties
for mass monitoring and prevention of
geological disasters, the development of urban
emergency shelters for earthquakes, and the establishment
of demonstration communities for
meteorological disaster prevention and reduction
to further solidify the foundation of urban
and rural disaster reduction work.
In 2009, the Chinese government designated
May 12 as National Disaster Prevention and
Reduction Day. All departments and regional
authorities made use of the platform to develop
a series of products for promoting disaster reduction
so that the public gains disaster prevention
and reduction knowledge and skills regularly,
leading to enhanced social awareness of
disaster prevention and reduction.
Strengthening International Exchange and
Cooperation in the Field of Natural Disaster
Risk Management
Adopting an open and cooperative attitude,
China takes an active part in international efforts
in the field of disaster reduction, the establishment
and improvement of international cooperative
mechanisms of disaster reduction, building
up of worldwide capacity in this regard, and
provision of mutual aid with other countries
in major natural disasters. China has provided
Asian, African, and Latin American countries
with official aid in disaster relief, incorporating
disaster reduction and relief into bilateral aid.
Meanwhile, it has actively participated in international
disaster reduction cooperation within a
multilateral framework and stepped up efforts to
promote regional cooperation in the field of disaster
reduction and relief. China has established
close cooperative partnerships with disasterrelated
United Nations (UN) agencies, including
the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP), the United Nations International
Improving the Assessment of Disaster Risks to Strengthen Financial Resilience 125