Tuesday 11 October 2011 Shanghai Daily A6 OPINION www.shanghaidaily.com/opinion Cities need disaster

Wang Yong [email protected] drills, better buildings

Max Wang Some officials rely on MY trip to Fukuoka, Japan during the National Day holiday last week was not for leisure, quite secrecy and clubs the contrary: it was all about disaster. First, I got “trapped” in a smoke-filled, all- TWO unrelated news events you educate China to become lights-out building and had to grope my way over the weekend reveal one an enlightened democracy if out. For the first time in my life I used an ex- of China’s thorniest political you yourself are so often blind tinguisher to put out a fire. Then I went through problems: bureaucratic indif- to the law? a simulated magnitude-7 earthquake with the ference to public interest. In another betrayal of public floor shaking violently under my chair. On Sunday, Li Yan, a trust, a group of chengguan These scary experiences were a prelude to an graduate student at Qinghua (“big hats” in charge of international symposium on creating disaster- University, withdrew her maintaining urban “image”) resilient cities held by the UN Habitat Regional lawsuit against three central in Kunming, Yunnan Office for Asia and the Pacific to observe the government ministries — Province, beat a 17-year-old World Habitat Day. the Ministry of Education, boy to death last Friday — The theme was appropriate since a spate of the Ministry of Science and and later admitted that they natural disasters has hit Asia this year, such Technology, and the Ministry had beaten the wrong target. as the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Illustration by Zhou Tao/Shanghai Daily of Land and Resources. In a five-minute press Japan on March 11, the rain-triggered mud About a month ago, she had conference afterward, a local slides in Seoul on July 27 and the huge floods filed suit in Beijing against the government spokesman re- in downtown Manila on September 27. It has been proven that emergency drills can three ministries for refusing to fused to answer questions The forum discussed challenges in disaster significantly reduce the loss of life in a real crisis, be transparent and publicize about why the thuggish cheng- prevention and mitigation as well as the but these are hard to carry out in a fast-paced the job descriptions for their guan had clubbed the wrong experiences of different countries. society like Shanghai where people are busy and vice ministers’ posts. person and why they wanted a All participants agreed that education is vital businesses are reluctant to let the drills interrupt Li said she dropped her man to die on the street under for building disaster-prevention capacities at com- their operation. lawsuit because the three the blows of iron rods. munity levels and that the success of government As a result, emergency drills often take place in ministries — under public The “spokesman” even anti-disaster measures hinges on public participa- schools and a select few residential complexes. pressure and with court refused to give his own name. tion. This was the message from the forum. In our 46-story office building, three floors are A disaster-resilient city can limit the loss of designated as emergency shelters with water, food mediation — had finally Thanks to a bold reporter from Max Wang satisfied her request. She CCTV, now everyone can see life in the event of a catastrophe and quickly and medicine stored there, but few of us know made her initial request in the video of that pseudo press recover from damages. where these floors are, and no fire drill has been May as she was researching conference. Cities can ward off floods with adequate held since we moved into the building in 1999. an academic paper about So silly and thuggish are drainage systems and dikes, but they can’t ❛ It has Dur ing this yea r’s National Disaster P revention China’s deputy officials. many of our government stop an earthquake. Reinforcement of weak been Day, Shanghai’s Baoshan District organized an This case serves only to officials that even good laws structures, early warning, timely evacuation and evacuation drill. Within eight minutes, more show how silly many of our cannot prevent them from well-planned reconstruction are needed. proven that than 90,000 students and teachers filed out of “public servants” are. The being silly or thuggish. The Unlike Japan and the western and northern their school buildings in an orderly exercise. Ministry of Education looks good news, though, is that parts of China, Shanghai is less vulnerable to emergency Without proper training, I am afraid there would especially foolish and igno- people can now speak up — earthquakes. The city is about 250 kilometers drills can be total chaos even if a calamity befalls just a rant in this case — how can and hope to be heard. west of the closest tectonic fault in the Yellow fraction of the city’s 20 million people. Sea, which occasionally experiences tremors, significantly To address the problem, Shanghai should make usually smaller than magnitude-5. The latest one it compulsory for every citizen to take part in a was felt this past January 12. But the city is prone reduce the disaster drill every year on May 12 and devise a Too many ‘servants’ to typhoons, rainstorms, tidal waves, dense fog loss of life in way to make the system work. The Japanese city (a cause of traffic accidents) and epidemics like of Fukuoka is a role model in this regard. idle at public trough SARS and bird flu. a real crisis, The Fukuoka Citizens’ Disaster Prevention Man-made disasters also threaten the city. but these Center, where I and other foreign journalists The high-rise inferno that killed 57 people experienced a building fire, an earthquake and A TOWNSHIP Party secretary was one official for every 26 last November still haunts many locals and the are hard to a typhoon, receives more than 100,000 visitors in Chongqing was reported ordinary taxpayers, 306 times subway collision that injured 270 people two a year and teaches them survival techniques in June to have organized that of the level in Western carry out in weeks ago all remind us there is no room for through simulations. gambling at mahjong in a Han Dyansty (202 BC - 9 complacence. a fast-paced Quick recovery is another indicator of disaster- resort villa while attending AD), one of China’s strongest After China designated May 12 National resilient cities. At the Fukuoka symposium, both a training program on the empires. society like UN officials and experts spoke highly of the family planning law. While the 2005 figure Disaster Prevention and Reduction Day, a Chinese government’s ability to respond quickly Four months have passed, might have been a bit of reminder of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, Shanghai and the local Party discipline exaggeration, one is still aghast Shanghai became the first city in the country where to the Sichuan earthquake. department has failed to at the official figure of official to issue a local law on earthquake crisis They were also impressed by China’s unique make any progress in its numbers — announced this management. It requires all new buildings to be people are one-to-one support program, under which each investigation. A spokesman March — of about 10 million built to withstand a magnitude-7 earthquake. busy and well-off province or municipality is paired with for the department said officials across China. That’s Schools, hospitals, stadiums and theaters a city or a county in the disaster area to assist in on Sunday: “We’re still one official for about every must endure shocks stronger than magnitude businesses reconstruction with financial aid no less than 1 investigating it.” 120 ordinary taxpayers. 7, and buildings more than 160 meters high percent of the better-off area’s local GDP. This hardly qualifies as The number of those must be evaluated for seismic hazards before are reluctant Professor Peng Zhenwei of Shanghai Tongji “news” in China today, where feeding at the public trough construction. to let University presented a case study of Shanghai’s too many officials prefer to has skyrocketed lately as the Two weeks after the tsunami hit Japan, the aid for Dujiangyan. His school was involved in the serve renminbi (Chinese government tries to create Shanghai government announced a plan to build the drills planning and reconstruction of the city damaged currency, literally “people’s jobs for the myriad laid-off 20 emergency shelters in urban parks by 2015. A interrupt in the earthquake. money”), not renmin (the workers. In 2003, 87,000 budget of 500 million yuan (US$78 million) has Sitting through two days of discussion on people). people sat in national public been earmarked to store food, medicine, drinking their disaster prevention and reduction, I left Fukuoka Playing cards or mahjong at servant admission tests. The water and tents in the shelters where waste can with a heightened awareness that dangers are work has come to typify the figure peaked at 1.46 million be recycled, rainwater collected for use, and operation. lurking under our feet but cities are facing more bureaucratic life in many parts last year. This year, slightly electricity is generated by solar panels. hazards caused by climate change. of China, from Chongqing in fewer people attended the According to the plan, A-type shelters are at UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his the west to Nanjing in the tests: 1.42 million. least 20,000 square meters and can accommo- World Habitat Day message: Rising sea levels are east. When a nation is willing to date residents within a radius of 5,000 meters a major impact of climate change and an urgent Corruption? Of course. feed so many official mouths, from the park for as long as 30 days. B-type concern. Major coastal cities such as Cairo, New But there’s another problem: you bet many of them will bet shelters cover at least 4,000 square meters and York, Karachi, Calcutta, New Orleans, Shanghai, China simply has too many their time away an mahjong can serve residents within a radius of 1,000 me- Tokyo, Miami and Amsterdam could face serious officials. tables, whether they are ters for 10 to 15 days. Residents near Zhongshan threats from storm surges. “The nexus between A 2005 news report by corrupt or not. They simply Park say they are glad to know there will be an urbanization and climate change is real and People’s Daily said there have nothing to do at work. emergency shelter nearby. potentially deadly,” he warned.