The government will further increase cooperation in disaster prevention and relief work with ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) members and international organizations, said Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu in Beijing on Tuesday.

Hui made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the two-day China-ASEAN Workshop on Earthquake-Generated Tsunami Warning, which was hosted by the China Seismological Bureau.

He said large-scale assistance was provided to regions around the Indian Ocean hit by the tsunami of December 26, and China made positive contributions to disaster relief and reconstruction work.

"We should learn from the lessons of Indian Ocean tsunami to do more research on natural disasters, to establish an early warning mechanism, to improve public awareness of disaster prevention and relief, and to increase international coordination and cooperation in dealing with natural disasters," Hui said.

China supports the UN in playing the leading role in establishing the early warning mechanism, and ASEAN should also play its part, he added.

Hui said China expects that an early warning system will be set up in the Indian Ocean as soon as possible.

"China is ready to provide assistance in terms of technology and personnel training to establish the early warning network," Hui noted.

"We should take cooperation in earthquake and tsunami early warning as an opportunity and extend it to a wider range of collaboration relating to disaster prevention and relief," Hui said.

Approximately 30 officials from ASEAN, India, Sri Lanka, the US, Japan and the UN participated in the workshop.

Participants exchanged views on improving the earthquake monitoring ability of southeast Asian countries.

The proposal of such a workshop was made by Premier Wen Jiabao in his speech at the international tsunami summit held in Jakarta, Indonesia on January 6.

(Xinhua News Agency January 26, 2005)