"China is one of the countries most affected by natural disasters because of its geographical location and vulnerable ecological environment. Global warming is bound to have a greater impact upon an already sensitive environment," added Xiao.

Official statistics show China has had "warmer winters" - when the temperature exceeds the historical average - for 16 years straight, while the average sea level has risen about 20 to 30 cm during the last 100 years.

"Climate change will intensify the hazards of floods and droughts in China, and the impact will be most noticeable in agriculture, water resources and forest ecological systems," said Hu Siyi, deputy director of the Ministry of Water Resources.

The landslide triggered in Taishun sparked calls from experts and the public for the central government to beef up safety checks in disaster-prone areas to help prevent secondary disasters.

"We have taken comprehensive flood prevention measures to minimize the potential negative impact," said Qiu Tingmeng, director of Fujian's flood prevention department.

A notice on the authority's website highlights regular checks on flood control dikes and areas prone to geological disasters as a top priority to prevent disasters and states, in response to the ever-worsening weather conditions, the provincial government will step up its monitoring and keep citizens informed.

"China is working conscientiously to improve emergency plans and strengthen its disaster relief ability," added Xiao at the NCC. "We are doing studies on the patterns of extreme weather events and making assessments on their potential risks to help improve response plans, as well as prevent or reduce losses."

Chen Hongjun, director of the resources and environment research center at the Guangzhou Institute of Geography, said the Chinese government had invested a huge amount in flood prevention but needed to improve safety at small and medium-sized reservoirs in storm-prone regions and make necessary repairs.

"Most of these reservoirs were built in the 1950 and 60s and are in danger of collapsing if hit by heavy rains. More importantly, we should be more careful in choosing sites to develop new communities and industries. We should avoid building them in flood-prone areas," he said.

Qin Boqiang, a researcher at Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, agreed and added China may face problems in securing investment in disaster-proof facilities.

"Although over the years China has improved a lot in its defense against disasters - reinforcing dikes and dams and raising standards for defense design - we have to be aware that the potential losses are still higher than in the past because of the growing population and production in a given region," he said. "But to build facilities that could withstand the worst disaster in 100 years would be too high a price for the government to pay.

Instead, more attention should be paid to excessive urban development and irrational human activities that have made the country more vulnerable to such natural disasters, said Qin.

"Yes, global warming has complicated the frequency and intensity of natural disasters," he continued. "But if it weren't for the many errors in our development that have damaged the environment there wouldn't be so much devastation caused by extreme weather conditions.

"The increasing number of landslides in the 39-sq-km Three Gorges Reservoir area in Chongqing municipality and Hubei province proved the vulnerability of the nature and the potential impact of human activities on it."