Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (2nd R) presides over a meeting on flood control and disaster relief in Yueyang, central China's Hunan Province, July 5, 2016. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)
On the night of 5 July, Li Keqiang, Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Premier of the State Council, chaired an overnight meeting on the flood prevention of relevant provinces in Yueyang city, after inspecting the flood control work in the flooded areas of the Yangtze River and Huaihe River during the day. The meeting set forth plans for flood prevention and control, emergency response and disaster relief in the next stage.
According to the report of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters at the meeting, due to the early arrival of flood season and heavy rainfall, the country is to face extremely difficult conditions of rain and flood this year. The water levels have crossed the warning mark in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the Dongtinghu Lake and the Poyanghu Lake as well as more than 200 rivers, and a number of middle- and small-sized flood control facilities were damaged. The task of flood prevention is therefore heavy and arduous. Premier Li said that water conservancy and flood prevention and control have always been of utmost importance to the stability of the country and well-being of the people. It is forecasted that torrential rain will continue in several places and the flood situation remains serious. The instructions of the Party Central Committee and the State Council must be carried out faithfully to ensure greater preparedness for major floods and better emergency response and relief efforts. No one shall drop guard although no major flood has occurred in the recent years and no one is allowed to leave it to chance even if we now have better major water conservancy facilities. We must always put people first, act in accordance with law and make sound plans for flood prevention and control, and mobilize the widest possible masses, so that we can be fully prepared to fight even the most catastrophic flood and minimize its damage.
Premier Li stressed that contingency plans should be ready based on a close analysis of the current flood situation so as to ensure the intensity, order and efficiency of the work. We must, first and foremost, ensure the safety of the people as well as the security of major embankments and major facilities. Second, we need to focus our efforts on preventing basin-wide floods and secondary disasters. Key water conservancy projects should be better leveraged, and controlled reservoirs and gate dams should be fully utilized to retain and discharge flood, and reduce and shift the flood peaks. There should be better coordination of various water conservancy facilities to adjust water flow. We should also improve all kinds of emergency plans, particularly the plan for the orderly evacuation of people, and mobilize the system of collective surveillance and prevention to guard against torrential floods, landslides, mud slides and other disasters. Third, we need to ensure the effectiveness of the two basic jobs of monitoring, forecasting and early warning as well as risk detection and elimination. We need to closely monitor the developments and changes in rainfall, water level and flood, enhance information sharing and joint consultations, make rigorous assessment of the trend of flood, strive to buy more time for flood and disaster prevention and relief and relocation of residents, and make utmost efforts to avoid casualties. We must do a good job in the patrolling and troubleshooting of flood-prevention facilities including main dikes, reservoirs and floodgates as well as embankments of rivers and lakes where water levels are already beyond the warning mark, and ensure prompt risk detection and management.
Premier Li said that while fighting the current flood, it is also important to enhance our flood prevention and disaster relief capability in an all-round way. To overcome the problems exposed during the flood control, all localities must be determined to shore up the two major weak links in urban underground pipelines and small-scale water facilities. While more input by the state is needed, greater efforts should also be made to advance reform, innovate mechanisms, widen market access, and encourage greater participation of private capital. We must take good stock of and accumulate experience of flood control and emergency response, improve institutions, enhance emergency management, and ensure early prevention, prompt control and effective relief at crucial phases.
Premier Li stressed that all relevant regions and parties, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the General Secretary, must bear in mind the overall interests, enhance their sense of responsibility and pool their efforts to form synergy. The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters and basin management authorities must enhance overall coordination and specified guidance, and take a holistic approach to the flood control work in the upper streams and lower streams, on left banks and right banks, and in mainstreams and branches of rivers. Should there be defiance of coordination orders that leads to major losses or should there be any ineffective work or organizational effort that may lead to embankment breaches, dam collapses or major casualties, those responsible must be held accountable in strict accordance with the law. We need to improve the joint operation mechanism between the military and the civilian authorities and support the flood control and emergency relief efforts of the PLA and armed police forces, so as to achieve a resounding victory in the fight against flood.
Wang Yang and Yang Jing attended the meeting. Principal and competent officials of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan, Hubei, Hunan and Sichuan Provinces, heads of the relevant departments of the State Council, Water Conservancy Commissions of the Yangtze River, Yellow River and Huaihe River and the Taihu Basin Authority, and relevant heads of the PLA and armed police forces participated in the meeting.
