Reply from the Ministry of Water Resources to The Paper: It will plan to build a new pattern of flood prevention and disaster relief in river basins.
This year, some regions in China have suffered from the impact of typhoons and heavy rain, resulting in flooding disasters. What measures has the Ministry of Water Resources taken to prevent and respond to these disasters, and what has been their effectiveness?
At a press conference on “Promoting High-Quality Water Conservancy Development to Guarantee China’s Water Security” held on December 31st, 2024 by the State Council Information Office, Chen Min, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Water Resources, responded to the above questions when answering a reporter from The Paper (www.thepaper.cn). He stated that this year’s climatic conditions were generally unfavorable, with frequent and prolonged periods of heavy rainfall, early and rapid development of river floods, and a complex situation for flood prevention and drought relief. The Ministry of Water Resources has taken on the responsibility of flood prevention and drought relief, been determined to protect its duties, and taken concrete measures to ensure effective defense.
The measures were well-planned and continuously deployed. Before the flood season, a meeting on the prevention and control of water-related disasters was held to make comprehensive arrangements. In-depth inspections for flood prevention preparations were conducted systematically to identify and resolve risks in a timely manner. Since the start of the flood season on April 1st, daily consultation and research have been conducted to arrange defensive work. During the main flood season, the mechanism of weekly consultation by the Minister and real-time consultation for each flood event was implemented to ensure proactive response and effective defense, firmly grasping the initiative in disaster prevention and mitigation.
Prevention comes first to gain control of the situation. The measures of forecast, warning, simulation, and contingency planning were strengthened. Flood forecasts and drought warnings were issued in a timely manner. Flood disaster warning information was sent directly to flood prevention personnel and the public, totaling 37.27 million messages for mountain floods and 2.52 billion messages in total. Digital twin technology was used to simulate flood risks and iteratively optimize defensive plans, providing an opportunity for flood prevention and rescue efforts as well as emergency transfers.
Both storage and discharge were considered for strengthened scheduling. The flood prevention engineering system in the basin was dispatched systematically, scientifically, safely, and precisely. During this year’s flood season, 6929 large and medium-sized reservoirs nationwide were put into use for flood prevention, with a total storage capacity of 147.1 billion cubic meters. This resulted in reducing the number of flooded cities by 2330 times, reducing the flooded cultivated land area by 16.87 million mu, and avoiding the transfer of 11.15 million people, thereby ensuring the safety of people’s lives and property to the greatest extent possible.
With full support and effective guidance, the Ministry of Water Resources introduced a dispatch and command mechanism for major water-related disasters. The water conservancy system dispatched expert teams totaling more than 20,000 groups to assist in guiding the prevention of water-related disasters and handling emergencies. The Ministry of Water Resources negotiated with the Ministry of Finance to timely allocate 3.32 billion yuan in water conservancy disaster relief funds to support local efforts in water damage restoration, safe flood control, and emergency drought relief.
Chen Min stated that in the next step, the Ministry of Water Resources will establish bottom-line thinking and limit extreme thinking, accelerate the revision of flood prevention planning in seven major river basins, plan to build a new structure for flood prevention and disaster reduction in river basins, accelerate the improvement of flood prevention engineering systems in river basins, monitoring and forecasting systems for rainfall and water conditions, work systems for water-related disaster prevention, implement three-year actions for upgrading important dam safety standards along seven major rivers, carrying out reinforcement and reinforcement on dangerous reservoirs, constructing management of flood storage areas, promote modernization of China’s flood prevention security system and capabilities in order to comprehensively enhance China’s ability to defend against flooding disasters.
