Jiangsu to regulate management of earthquake early warning

2021-05-26 14:26:00

As one of the regions with moderate to strong seismic activities in East China, Jiangsu plans to formulate China's first local legislation regulating the management of earthquake early warning system.

File photo/CFP

The 23rd meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th Jiangsu Provincial People's Congress, the provincial legislature, heard a brief of the draft law on May 25. It makes clear the responsibility and working mechanism to guide the issuing of earthquake early warning. It also stipulates the unified planning, a hierarchical management structure, technical standards, and information release.

Earthquake early warning is of great concern to the public and can have massive impacts on the economy, society and people's livelihood, so it’s imperative to adopt strict and unified regulation to issue the alert. According to the draft, the early warning can only be issued by earthquake authorities authorized by the provincial government with no exception to any organization or individual. The government shall designate media outlets to publicize the information and also encourage other media platforms to forward and promote the information under the guide of earthquake authorities.

Organizations and individuals with specific content needs regarding the earthquake warning may apply for customized service. The draft regulation also requires specific organizations to develop emergency response measures, such as receiving and spreading the information automatically.

In adopting the unified approach, Jiangsu also plans to strengthen the development and management of specialized system for earthquake early warning. Constructors of major projects including reservoirs, oil fields and nuclear power plants are required to put into place such system. Upon agreement of the constructors, authorities can also incorporate the specialized system into the province-wide earthquake early warning network.

The Standing Committee also recommended to further clarify the regulatory requirements over such customized system and specify the protocols to facilitate information sharing with the province's network.