China is reviewing a draft amendment to revise the country's law on earthquake prevention and disaster reduction.

Villager Zhao Guangdong hangs up a string of small firecrackers to celebrate his family's move to a new house in Mianyang, Sichuan, October 23, 2008. Mianyang was badly hit by the May 12 earthquake. [China Daily]

A draft amendment was handed over by the State Council, China's Cabinet, to the 5th Session of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee on Thursday. Chen Jianmin, head of the China Earthquake Administration, introduced the new regulations.

The amendment said the government should complete a nationwide network of earthquake monitoring system involving multiple fields of studies. Major construction projects should be built with special monitoring equipment.

The new regulations encouraged individuals or organizations to alert earthquake administrations with their precautionary reports of a possible quake or premonition observed from unusual phenomenon.

The earthquake administrations should work out proposals of earthquake's precautionary measures and report them to local governments.

Individuals or organization which have observed large-scale unusual phenomenon have the right to directly report it to the State Council's earthquake administration, the regulations added.

After the deadly quake that jolted the country's southwest on May 12, some local governments were accused for holding back precautionary reports as advised by scientists living in the region and neglecting local residents' reports. Some Internet posting told of a huge migration of frogs.

However, the regulations also stressed neither individuals nor organizations, except government, could release earthquake forecasts to the public.

In addition, the proposal authorized governments at the provincial level to release short-term quake forecasts after informing the State Council.

The quality of school structures was another popular indignation after the quake since many collapsed while government buildings were still standing.

The new regulation asked contractors to build school facilities with anti-quake criteria higher than common buildings in surrounding places. For those already built, certain reinforcement measures should be added.

(Xinhua News Agency October 24, 2008)