Xi Jinping Urges Stronger Disaster Prevention as Floods Batter China

Beijing (GNP): Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for improving the country’s ability to prevent, mitigate and respond to natural disasters, following a string of deadly floods and landslides that struck China this summer. His remarks were published on Saturday in Qiushi, a journal central to Communist Party messaging, and were drawn from a speech delivered at a Politburo study session on April 28.

Xi said that as global warming continues, extreme weather events such as torrential rains, floods, typhoons and droughts are increasing significantly, exacerbating their destructive impact across the country. He urged a shift towards pre-disaster prevention, stronger monitoring and early-warning systems, and efforts to close gaps in flood-control and drainage infrastructure in northern China.

The remarks follow China’s strongest typhoon this year, whose remnants brought torrential rain to Beijing, flooding key roads and stranding vehicles while affecting wide swathes of the country. Last month, landslides triggered by flash floods in northwestern Gansu province killed 25 people, while a separate landslide caused by a collapsed mountain in Chongqing, in the southwest, left 51 people dead and 10 missing.

Xi said China would continuously improve its ability and level of prevention and response to various natural disasters in order to safeguard the lives and property of the people and maintain social stability.

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He added that disaster risks must not be allowed to spill into economic, energy, food and social security, and called for the use of technologies including artificial intelligence, drones and satellite remote sensing in rescue efforts.

Scientists have linked China’s increasingly destructive weather this year to climate change, with an emerging El Niño pattern boosting temperatures and fueling more frequent and intense typhoons across the region.