Man of action takes new helm

Wang Zhenyao's office looks like a battlefield command station.

On the wall behind his desk hangs a large poster printed with the four levels of disaster response.

To the right hangs a large satellite map of Beichuan county, one of the areas hit hardest by the May 12 earthquake.

"How we respond to a disaster is similar with how we react in a war," Wang said.

He had been the top disaster and relief official during the most devastating quake in three decades before assuming his current post last month as head of the Social Welfare and Charity Promotion Department.

Under orders from Premier Wen Jiabao and Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu, Wang and his staff set up an office in Chengdu on May 15.

He had set foot in nearly every quake-affected county within 15 days.

"We fought hard, responded quickly and effectively, and we won," he said of the disaster relief work.

He said the success was due to a number of factors.

"It was because the country spent years establishing natural disaster rescue and relief systems, building up charitable organizations, advancing ideas stemming from international cooperation, developing technologies, and coordinating among various ministries and the military."

In 1998, the State Council issued the China Disaster Reduction Plan . And in 2005, the country set up a national commission on disaster reduction and prevention with coordinating offices at local levels.

The ministry has developed a four-level emergency-response system, which ensured the delivery of food and goods to quake victims within 24 hours, he said.

"It is hard to win a battle like this without experience or coordination."

Although he has long known China has more natural disasters than any other country, Wang said he was shocked by the scale of the earthquake, and by the rescue and relief efforts it required.

"So many people died. The survivors asked for food, water and tents," he recalled.

The most challenging moment was when Sichuan's provincial government asked him for 3 million tents on May 21, he said.

"Our stocks were running out, and there was no time to manufacture enough tents," he recalled.

Previously, the demand for tents had averaged about 10,000 every year.

In response, Wang and his office developed a strategy in which each province would assist one quake-affected county. The move proved effective, he said.

"The 21 provinces were like 21 big cranes, and the problem was solved in three days," he said.

Wang said many losses could have been avoided if disaster-prevention measures had been observed.

He often cited the example of Sangzao high school, where about 2,300 faculty members and students made it out of the building unscathed because they had run fire drills before.

Only 5 percent of Chinese have ever done a fire drill, he said.

Source: China Daily