China to strengthen disaster management

Decision comes in wake of sequential occurrences of floods and droughts

China has intensified its efforts to build a disaster prevention and control system for droughts and floods in response to more extreme weather events brought about by global warming, officials said on Friday.

"The global trend of climate warming is evident with China being a region sensitive to changes and significantly impacted. In recent years, more frequent, intense and widespread extreme weather events have led to more abrupt, severe and abnormal disasters such as heavy rainfall, floods and droughts," Chen Min, vice-minister of water resources, said at a news conference in Beijing.

As of 8 am on Friday, a total of 329 rivers have reported water levels exceeding flood control alert thresholds, with extreme heavy downpours leading to disasters such as mountain floods, landslides and urban waterlogging in certain areas, Chen said.