The ten major events in emergency management in 2019, look here!

The Decision of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee requires improving the public safety system and mechanism, optimizing the national emergency management capacity system construction, and enhancing disaster prevention, mitigation, and relief capabilities.

From October 28 to 31, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee was held in Beijing, adopting the "Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Upholding and Improving the Socialist System with Chinese Characteristics and Promoting the Modernization of the National Governance System and Governance Capacity." The Decision requires improving the public safety system and mechanism, perfecting and implementing safety production responsibility and management systems, establishing a public safety hazard investigation and safety prevention and control system, building a unified command, specialized and general, responsive, and vertically and horizontally linked emergency management system, optimizing the national emergency management capacity system construction, and enhancing disaster prevention, mitigation, and relief capabilities.

Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has continuously improved the functions and systems of Party and state institutions, promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity. In March 2018, the CPC Central Committee issued the "Plan for Deepening the Reform of Party and State Institutions," deciding to establish the Ministry of Emergency Management. More than a year of practice has proven this to be a scientific institutional design.

General Secretary Xi Jinping presided over the 19th collective study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and delivered an important speech on promoting the modernization of China's emergency management system and capacity.

On November 29, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held its 19th collective study session on the construction of China's emergency management system and capacity. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized during the session that emergency management is an important part of the national governance system and governance capacity, bearing the important responsibilities of preventing and resolving major safety risks and timely responding to various disasters and accidents, and undertaking the important mission of protecting the safety of people's lives and property and maintaining social stability. We must leverage the characteristics and advantages of China's emergency management system, learn from beneficial foreign emergency management practices, and actively promote the modernization of China's emergency management system and capacity.

On December 1, the Ministry of Emergency Management held an expanded Party Leadership Group meeting to convey, study, and implement the important speech spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping at the 19th collective study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. The entire system will deeply study and comprehend General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech as an important political task and as the fundamental premise and guarantee for doing a good job.

Premier Li Keqiang inspects the Ministry of Emergency Management and presides over a flood control and drought relief work meeting.

On July 19, Li Keqiang, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Premier of the State Council, inspected the Ministry of Emergency Management and presided over a flood control and drought relief work meeting, emphasizing that emergency duty and disaster prevention and mitigation responsibilities are weightier than Mount Tai, and flood control and drought relief must not be slack or negligent and must continue to be firmly implemented. Premier Li Keqiang attaches great importance to emergency management work and has issued multiple instructions and deployments. The national safety production teleconference held on January 9, The national forest and grassland fire prevention and control and flood control and drought relief teleconference held on March 28, the national key area flood control and drought relief work meeting held on June 21, the national safety production teleconference held on July 26, the national autumn and winter forest and grassland fire prevention teleconference held on September 6, and the national safety production teleconference held on November 22, Premier Li Keqiang made important instructions at all these meetings.

One year since the establishment of the national comprehensive fire and rescue team, a series of brand-new management measures and support policies have been introduced.

On November 9, the first anniversary of the establishment of the national comprehensive fire and rescue team was celebrated. Han Zheng, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council, attended the symposium to deeply study and implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's flag presentation and instructions to the national comprehensive fire and rescue team, fully affirming the achievements in team building and emergency management work. State Councilor Wang Yong attended the national comprehensive fire and rescue team competition and fire rescue practical exercise.

In 2018, the public security fire brigade and the armed police forest brigade were reorganized to form the national comprehensive fire and rescue team. On November 9 of that year, General Secretary Xi Jinping presented the flag and delivered instructions to the national comprehensive fire and rescue team.

Over the past year, under the warm care and high attention of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, a series of brand-new management measures and support policies have been introduced one after another. As the main force and national team of national emergency rescue, this team faithfully practices the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's flag presentation and instructions, aiming at "all disaster types, large-scale emergency," accelerating transformation and upgrading, and undertaking the comprehensive rescue responsibilities of preventing and resolving major safety risks and responding to various disasters and accidents.

Legal and regulatory reforms, abolitions, and interpretations in the emergency management field continue to advance, and law enforcement and legal education continue to be promoted, improving the level of governance according to law.

On March 2, State Council Order No. 709 revised the "Regulations on Natural Disaster Relief" and the "Regulations on Earthquake Safety Evaluation Management."

On April 1, the "Regulations on Emergency Response to Production Safety Accidents" (State Council Order No. 708) came into effect, stipulating the emergency response system, emergency preparedness, emergency rescue, and other aspects of production safety accident emergency work.

On April 16, the Ministry of Emergency Management, Ministry of Public Security, Supreme People's Court, and Supreme People's Procuratorate jointly issued the "Measures for the Coordination of Administrative Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice in Production Safety."

On April 23, the 10th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress decided to amend the "Fire Protection Law of the People's Republic of China."

On May 1, Ministry of Emergency Management Order No. 1 — "Measures for the Administration of Safety Evaluation, Testing, and Inspection Agencies" came into effect.

On May 30, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Deepening Fire Law Enforcement Reform."

In September, Ministry of Emergency Management Order No. 2 decided to amend the "Measures for the Administration of Emergency Plans for Production Safety Accidents"; Ministry of Emergency Management Order No. 3 decided to abolish four regulations including the "Regulations on the Administration of Production Safety Industry Standards."

From September to November, the Ministry of Emergency Management, Ministry of Justice, and National Legal Education Office carried out the 2019 National Emergency Management Legal Knowledge Competition. The "Exploration and Practice of the National Emergency Management Legal Knowledge Competition" was selected as a "National Legal Education and Law-based Governance Innovation Case" by the National Legal Education Office.

On December 28, the 15th meeting of the 13th National People's Congress Standing Committee voted to pass the newly revised "Forest Law of the People's Republic of China," clarifying that the national comprehensive fire and rescue team is responsible for the firefighting tasks and prevention work related to forest fires as stipulated by the state.

The national safety situation remains stable, with total production safety accidents, major accidents, and particularly serious accidents all showing a "threefold decline."  

In April, provincial government safety production and fire protection work inspections were conducted. The "Guidelines for Safety Risk Investigation and Management in Chemical Parks (Trial)" and the "Guidelines for Safety Risk and Hazard Investigation and Management in Hazardous Chemical Enterprises" were released.

On November 13, Premier Li Keqiang presided over a State Council executive meeting to hear reports on the investigation of the Jiangsu Xiangshui "3.21" accident and the review and investigation of accountability, and deployed special rectification on safety production, especially the management of hazardous chemical production.

On November 22, the State Council Safety Committee held a national safety production teleconference. Li Keqiang made important instructions, requiring effective supervision of the nationwide special inspection on hazardous chemical safety to ensure tangible results.

In November, the State Council Safety Committee issued the "National Safety Production Concentrated Rectification Work Plan," carrying out a three-month nationwide concentrated rectification on safety production in key industries such as hazardous chemicals.

On November 26, the State Council Jiangsu Safety Production Special Rectification Supervision Team entered Jiangsu.

Over the past year, the emergency management system widely carried out "four no's and two straight" inspections, conducted "health check" style supervision on high-risk coal mines, performed safety demonstrations on mines with disasters over 1,000 meters deep, deeply investigated and managed safety hazards in hazardous chemicals, fire protection, and other industries, launched a nationwide unified online safety production reporting platform, and intensified joint punishment efforts on the "blacklist." In 2019, the national safety situation remained stable, with total production safety accidents, major accidents, and particularly serious accidents all showing a "threefold decline."

Emergency rescue and disaster relief were efficient and orderly, demonstrating the efficiency and strength of China's emergency response.

Effectively responded to major disasters such as the landslide in Xiangning, Shanxi, the major forest fire in Qinyuan, Shanxi, the 6.0 magnitude earthquake in Changning, Sichuan, the massive landslide in Shuicheng, Guizhou, the super typhoon "Lekima," as well as the explosion in Xiangshui, Jiangsu, and the mine water inrush in Gong County, Sichuan. Especially this year's Typhoon No. 9 "Lekima," the fifth strongest typhoon to land in China since the founding of the People's Republic, but compared to previous super typhoons of similar intensity and path, the disaster losses were minimized to the greatest extent.

Over the past year, the Ministry of Emergency Management organized 293 disaster accident video consultations, initiated responses to 58 major and particularly serious disaster accidents, and dispatched 383 working groups. The national comprehensive fire and rescue team mobilized 13.119 million personnel times, rescuing 158,000 people in distress, evacuating 497,000 people, and protecting property valued at 24.22 billion yuan. Deaths and missing persons due to natural disasters, collapsed houses, and direct economic losses as a proportion of GDP decreased by 25%, 57%, and 24% respectively compared to the average of the past five years.

  According to the requirements of "all disaster types, large-scale emergency," comprehensively strengthen rescue force construction.

The national comprehensive fire and rescue team accelerated transformation and upgrading, held the first "Flame Blue" rescue skills competition and international fire rescue technology exchange, participated for the first time in the World Fire Rescue Championship and the World Police and Fire Games. The Chinese rescue team conducted its first international rescue and passed the United Nations International Heavy Rescue Team IEC evaluation. Established 27 specialized teams for earthquake, mountain, water, and air operations nationwide, formed mobile detachments and flood control rescue teams in provinces, and set up six cross-border forest and grassland firefighting teams along border lines. Strengthened professional rescue forces in mines, hazardous chemicals, and other fields. Incorporated China Aneng into the national emergency rescue force system and established a natural disaster engineering emergency rescue center. Integrated aviation emergency resources and formulated and implemented the national aviation emergency rescue system construction plan. Established an online application system for social forces participating in emergency rescue and held the first national social emergency force skills competition.

Built a nationwide emergency command information network and emergency management cloud computing platform connecting the ministry, provinces, cities, and counties; fully applied the hazardous chemical safety production risk monitoring and early warning system; initial results achieved in emergency communication support under extreme conditions; intelligent unmanned emergency rescue and light engineering machinery products put into use. Established the National Natural Disaster Prevention and Control Research Institute and co-built the Safety Science and Engineering Research Institute. Launched a safety skill improvement action plan for high-risk industries, training and assessing 5.6 million "three types of post personnel" nationwide. Initiated the first national disaster comprehensive risk census pilot and named 976 national comprehensive disaster reduction demonstration communities.

A wave of care and respect for fire and rescue teams surged, with a strong social atmosphere of "praising and honoring heroes."

In 2019, a total of 40 fire and rescue personnel and emergency management cadres sacrificed their precious lives nationwide.

On March 30, a forest fire broke out in Yalongjiang Town, Muli County, Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan Province. During firefighting and rescue, 31 heroes, including 27 forest fire fighters, died heroically. Various spontaneous mourning activities surged across regions, platforms, and groups.

After the 6.0 magnitude earthquake rescue in Changning, Sichuan, the landslide rescue in Shuicheng, Guizhou, and the forest fire fighting in Foshan, Guangdong, when fire rescue personnel withdrew, local people spontaneously came to offer drinks, food, and other items through the windows of fire trucks. Over the past year, a wave of care and respect for fire and rescue teams has swept the country. Fire teams in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Jilin, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Henan, Sichuan, Guangxi, Chongqing, Xinjiang, and other places received various gifts and warm messages, creating a strong social atmosphere of "praising and honoring heroes."