China’s Politburo orders rapid-response overhaul in the face of floods and extreme heat

The Politburo issued the warning at its first flood and drought prevention meeting for the year in Beijing on Tuesday, a gathering chaired by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The Politburo urged local governments to take “forceful” measures against drought, flooding and typhoons, to “always put the safety of people’s lives first”, evacuate in a timely manner and prevent mass casualties.

“It is essential to ensure the flood control safety of major rivers, large lakes and key water bodies, and to comprehensively strengthen the regulation of river and lake flood discharge spaces,” it said, according to a Xinhua report on Tuesday.

“Efforts are needed to guarantee the flood-season safety of major infrastructure and projects under construction, investigate hazards and improve the protection of agricultural infrastructure.”

The meeting also called for improved rescue capabilities under extreme conditions, for greater resources at the grass-roots level and for more forces to be deployed on the front lines.

China has recently issued several rounds of warnings for storm, flood, mountain torrents and other geological disasters. On June 18, the Ministry of Water Resources issued a level 4 emergency response – the lowest in a four-tier system – for the provinces of Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan and Guizhou.