A national center to reduce damage caused by floods and drought -- catastrophes causing havoc to China's national economy -- was established Thursday in Beijing.

The aims of the center are not only to carry out research on withstanding the disasters but also to study how people can adapt to prevent them.

Set up by the Ministry of Water Resources with senior staff from disaster-relief agencies and professional elites in the field of disaster-reduction, the center is designed to provide powerful technological support for China's efforts to minimize damage from flood and drought.

It will conduct a series of research projects on specific key macro strategic policies, such as using flood water as resources, and the introduction, adoption and popularization of important flood-control and drought prevention technologies, so as to meet China's needs in the field of disaster-reduction, senior water officials said.

Inaugurating the center with other officials, Suo Lisheng, vice-minister of water resources, urged experts not only to analyze efficiency of flood and drought controls countermeasures but also their consequent impacts on society, the economy and environment.

"Experts should not only research on how to withstand natural disasters but also study the way for mankind to adapt to nature and restrict their unreasonable exploitation of nature because natural disasters are the outcomes of interaction between nature and society," Suo said.

Although China has made remarkable achievements in the fields of flood forecast, damage evaluation of the deluges, flood-control plans and projects, few have been successfully applied to anti-flood practices, some senior experts attending the center's inauguration conceded.

Suo and other water officials hope the center can promote the use of high-tech equipment -- including remote sensing, global position and geographic information systems -- from laboratories to the field of anti-flood and drought through close co-operations with other agencies home and abroad.

"The World Bank (WB) will do its best to support the development of the center, as it was expected to be developed into a center for open technological and policy research, plus information and consultant services at the national level," said Juergen Voegele, a WB coordinator in China.

Floods and droughts have become an ever-increasing concern of the Chinese Government and its 1.3 billion people, with damages multiplied in recent years with China's rapid economic growth.

In 1998 alone, direct damage caused by the year's summer floods amounted to 255.1 billion yuan (US$30.7 billion), with more than 4,100 people killed.

In 2000, North China experienced the worst drought in 51 years. The disaster struck more than 20 provinces, autonomous regions and metropolises, with crop reduction reaching 60 billion kilograms and millions of locals suffering from serious temporary shortages of drinking water.

(China Daily January 11, 2002)