China to strengthen prevention, control of floods, droughts

BEIJING, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese authorities have urged efforts to enhance the prevention and control of floods and droughts, as recent overlapping events have posed severe challenges for disaster control.

Efforts should be made to closely monitor and guard against the new round of heavy rainfall, the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters and the Ministry of Emergency Management said Friday.

Regions, especially Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Hebei, Tianjin and Beijing, should be on high alert for mountain torrents and other latent risks, the authorities said.

They also highlighted the need to relieve the drought impacts. Drought areas should step up efforts, including thoroughly giving play to the water conservancy projects, in order to guarantee water supply to residents, and meet the industrial and agricultural water demands to the utmost extent.

The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters maintain a level-IV emergency response for flood control in regions including Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia and a level-IV emergency response for drought control in Anhui, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing and Sichuan.