The State Council published national response plans for nine types of emergencies on Sunday, ranging from plane crashes and nuclear power plant disasters to workplace incidents and telecommunications network failures.

It is the first time the government has worked out comprehensive, detailed crisis management plans such as these.

The significance of the plans is enormous. They will definitely improve the nation's preparedness for emergencies and reduce human and material losses.

With these plans, the nation is expected to be more prompt and adept when facing crises such as the SARS epidemic of 2003, the pollution of the Songhua River last year and a blocked railway mainline last week in central China, which led to dangerously overcrowded stations.

Different departments and governments at lower levels are drafting their own plans according to specific situations under their jurisdictions.

What is more important is organizing drills to test the effectiveness of the plans, to find flaws and to make modifications.

Improving the plans should be a progressive process. Necessary modifications should be made whenever conditions change.

Information about how affected citizens should react in emergencies should also be publicized so people know what to do to protect themselves and others, and to cooperate with emergency management authorities.

China is experienced in dealing with emergencies. But serious incidents in many sectors are relatively new phenomena for the majority of the country.

Subways and airplanes have become popular means of transportation only in recent years.

Some types of emergencies have been around for a long time, but risk has grown exponentially in recent years with changes in circumstances.

The damage that could be caused by environmental incidents has grown steadily with the rapidly increasing size of industry. The danger of epidemics has been magnified by increased international exchanges.

In addition, public emergency management in the modern sense is still new to China.

Seeing the threats posed by fresh potential dangers and weakness in crisis management, China has begun to take action.

The first meaningful step the government took was in information disclosure.

Governments at different levels have gradually accepted the practice of informing the public about incidents and making transparent the process through which the government is dealing with crises.

A set of general guidelines for emergency response issued earlier this month by the State Council legalized requirements for transparency in public safety incidents and stipulated penalties for those burying information.

Preparedness, coordination of related parties and information transparency are among the key elements of emergency management.

Response procedures and requirements for transparency are already in place. Now smooth co-ordination is needed to improve them.

Safety education for the public has long been a weak point of China's public management. Drills for emergencies are rarely heard of.

Education has been somewhat improved in some primary and high schools. But more efforts are needed to make the information reach the general public.

(China Daily January 24, 2006)