The Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee held a meeting on Thursday to study and arrange work on flood prevention and relief as well as post-disaster restoration and reconstruction. Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, presided over the meeting and delivered an important speech.

It was noted at the meeting that late July and early August are the critical periods of flood prevention. Under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, Party committees and governments at all levels have strengthened organizational leadership and strictly performed their duties. The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, together with all relevant departments, has fulfilled their responsibilities and collaborated with each other, with China Fire and Rescue teams fighting at the front line, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and Armed Police rushing to provide emergency assistance, and a helping hand from central State-owned enterprises and different social sectors. With such concerted endeavors, the country has achieved phased success in flood prevention and disaster relief.

It was underscored at the meeting that China remains in the main flood season currently, with rainstorms, floods, typhoons and other disasters frequenting many regions nationwide, and some river basins still under risks of flooding. The soil moisture in some mountainous areas in north and northeast China has saturated, while the risks of mountain torrents and geological disasters stay high. Therefore, governments at all levels must not let their guard down. Drought has emerged and even begun to develop in certain areas, against which guard must not be lowered. All relevant regions, authorities and departments should put flood control and disaster relief high on their agenda, and treat the safety of people's lives and property as a top priority. It is imperative to follow through on the work in this regard with a strong sense of responsibility characterized by "staying on high alert".

The meeting called for precise warning and targeted response, and coordination between meteorological warning and disaster forecast. While placing emphasis on the warning of approaching disasters, work should be done to ensure point-to-point forecast and real-time updates, strengthen the pertinence of warning, and implement a "call-and-response" mechanism directly toward grassroots officials in charge as floods arrive. It is also urgent to ramp up the synergy between warning and emergency response and carry out contingency measures, so as to gain the upper hand in disaster prevention. Prevention of major floods in river basins must be taken as the top priority, and flood control measures, contingency plans, rescue teams, disaster-relief materials, and the use of flood detention basins must be well prepared beforehand, in a bid to ensure the safety of areas along large rivers during flood seasons, according to the meeting. Besides, it is vital to refine and put in place prevention and control measures for timely response to floods in small and medium-sized rivers, floods from small and medium-sized reservoirs, mountain torrents and geological disasters, as well as urban and rural waterlogging, eliminating risks and hidden dangers before disasters occur.

Measures should also be taken to coordinate flood prevention and fight against drought, in case drought and flood come concurrently or flood comes on the heels of long drought. It is imperative to act decisively to evacuate and relocate people from dangerous areas at critical moments. It is better to err on the side of caution in this regard. With further refined evacuation and risk prevention plans, those in charge must make sure that no one is left behind and early evacuation is made as soon as possible when it is necessary.

The meeting stressed the coordinated dispatch of China Fire and Rescue teams, the PLA and the Armed Police, those from central State-owned enterprises and social rescue teams in all-out rescue efforts, to ensure efficient and sound rescue. Efforts must not be spared to fix dykes, rescue the trapped and search for the missing to minimize casualties. Those sections of dykes and dams that are vulnerable to flood must be strengthened and raised in advance, uninterrupted patrol and inspection must be arranged to address major hazards such as seepages in dykes and possible dam failures, and resolutely make sure that natural disasters can be prevented and controlled through flood season. It is important to properly resettle the relocated people. This disaster has hit a large number of areas, many flood detention and storage areas have been used, and a large number of residents have been relocated. It is imperative to do everything possible to ensure the basic livelihood of those relocated, do a good job in disinfection of environmental surfaces and epidemic prevention, strengthen market supply and keep prices stable, and restore production and life order in the disaster-hit areas as soon as possible.

It was noted at the meeting that funds for disaster relief must be well used, and post-disaster recovery and reconstruction must be accelerated. Efforts must be sped up to repair as quickly as possible damaged infrastructure such as transport, communication and power supply. Timely work must be done to restore the farmland and agriculture facilities damaged by the disasters, ensure the provision of agricultural supplies, strengthen agricultural technology guidance for farmers, organize them to save as many as possible the damaged crops or reseed, and do a good job in disaster prevention and deduction in the agricultural sector, so as to minimize agricultural loss and safeguard the country's food security. It is imperative to advance the recovery and restoration of public facilities such as schools, hospitals and nursing homes, and ensure that all the students affected by the disasters can return to campus for autumn semester on time. Work must be done to start up as quickly as possible the renovation and reconstruction of houses damaged or destroyed by the disasters, so as to ensure that those relocated can either return home or move to new houses before winter comes and spend a safe and warm winter. Financial institutions are urged to optimize and streamline relevant procedures, increase credit support and settle insurance claims as timely as possible for regions affected by the disasters. They are required to continuously detect risks and hidden dangers, and work hard to help the people and business entities affected by the disasters get through the hard times.

The meeting calls for efforts to identify problems and shore up weak links to improve the country's capacity for disaster prevention, deduction and relief. The emergency response system at all levels should be consolidated, and the facilities and systems used for dispatch and command, consultation and judgment, as well as supportive service should be refined so that emergencies will be handled in a holistic manner. It is essential to strengthen the capacity of China's regional emergency rescue centers to address urgent, difficult, dangerous and daunting tasks. This will make it possible for them to meet the needs of rescue efforts when severe regional natural disasters occur, and develop their regional rescue capacity. It is also essential to strengthen the capacity at grassroots to respond to disasters, improve their emergency management system, boost and regulate the building of their emergency rescue teams; and provide the major regions vulnerable to natural disasters, high-risk townships and villages with necessary equipment to make them more capable of saving themselves or helping each other in rescue efforts.

It is necessary to improve flood control facilities in basins of main rivers, especially in the northern region, and ensure safe development, operation and management of flood storage and detention areas, so as to strengthen disaster prevention capacity in a holistic manner. It is imperative to strengthen capacity for responding to floods and waterlogging in cities and update or improve the infrastructure such as drainage networks in urban areas to better link with waterways for discharging flood, so as to ensure that main drainage networks in cities work well.

It is stressed at the meeting that Party committees and governments at all levels must strictly implement the CPC Central Committee's decisions and plans, and perform their principal responsibilities. Leading officials at all levels, particularly those holding principal leadership positions should go to the frontline to command flood prevention work. All relevant regions, departments, and institutions must perform their duties well. The China Fire and Rescue teams, the PLA, and Armed Police should take the lead in the rescue and relief work. Primary-level Party organizations and every Party member should play a key, exemplary, and vanguard role, stepping forward to take on tough tasks at the frontline of rescue and relief. It is necessary to rely on the solid support of the people and transform the Party's strengths in politics, organizations, and its close ties with the people into political driving power behind flood relief and reconstruction work, so as to protect people's lives and property.

Some other issues were also discussed at the meeting.