Following the formal establishment of national earthquake disaster emergency rescue team in April 2001, China has begun to gradually set up such teams at the provincial level. Currently, there are already eight provinces that have founded local earthquake disaster emergency rescue teams successively.

The above-mentioned information was disclosed by researcher Xu Deshi, head of the earthquake disaster emergency rescue department of the China Earthquake Administration, during an interview by the media on July 14. He adds that the eight places are Helongjiang, Liaoning, Gansu, Sichuan, Yunnan and Shanxi provinces, Tianjin Municipality and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. .

Xu Deshi says, the construction of earthquake disaster emergency rescue team is a systematic project, and its final formation is comprised of four levels, including earthquake disaster emergency rescue teams of national, provincial and prefectural (city) levels as well as volunteers, which can carry out emergent rescuing work within the shortest time and at the fastest speed upon the occurrence of earthquake and other disasters.

Provincial earthquake disaster emergency rescue team is directly under provincial governments of various levels, with service guidance offered by China Earthquake Administration and demonstration shown by the national earthquake disaster emergency rescue team. Xu Deshi states that, although the teams of the four levels are uniformly named as earthquake disaster emergency rescue teams, it does not mean that these teams carry out work only when earthquakes occur; instead, they should operate according to international standards, with each team serving multiple purposes, and can undertake and properly fulfill other disaster rescuing tasks.

Xu, an expert on earthquake who has so far led the team four times for domestic and international earthquake emergency rescuing tasks, expresses the hope that before the end of the next "Five-Year Plan, all provincial earthquake disaster emergency rescue teams will be set up throughout China, and that they can promote the establishment of a batch of emergency teams at the prefectural (city) level, as well as stimulate the formation of volunteer rescuing teams in large cities and densely-populated areas.

The year 2003 saw active and serious earthquake disasters in the world, especially in China's mainland. Precisely in this year, the China national earthquake disaster emergency rescue team, with a history of only two years, took part in the rescuing work of four earthquakes happened in Bacu, Jiashi and Zhaosu counties of Xinjiang, and in Algeria and Iran. Its outstanding performance in the rescuing practices shows that this team, which is also known as China International Rescue Team, has wholly possessed domestic as well as international rescuing capability.

By People's Daily Online