Experts Thursday called
for the introduction of emergency management mechanisms for
sustainable development programs guiding national economic and
social progress.
Governments at all levels
should increase efforts to improve laws and regulations to better
cope with extraordinary emergencies, said Zhang Chengfu, a top
research fellow in the area, at the first China International Forum
on Government Emergency Management, which concludes today.
Extraordinary emergencies
refer to both natural disasters and those caused by human
activities, according to US-based Northern Illinois University
professor Donald C. Menzel, such as the outbreak of SARS (severe
acute respiratory syndrome) this spring and the terrorist attack in
the United States on September 11, 2001.
Statistics indicate that
from 1996 to 2000, a variety of disastrous emergencies caused
economic losses estimated at US$235 billion, and left 425,000
casualties in their wake around the world.
However, emergencies can
also be used as an impetus and catalyst to further social progress
if concerned government cope rationally and directly, even though
such emergencies almost always wreak havoc in politics and the
economy.
For example, the Chinese
people's triumph over SARS this year revealed a great improvement
in handling and overcoming a serious emergency.
?(China Daily
December 5, 2003)