Premier Li Keqiang has stressed the need for further improvements in flood control and disaster prevention in his instructions to the plenary meeting of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters held in Beijing on Dec 22.

The Premier referred to the nation’s efforts to successfully deal with this year’s floods, the most serious since 1998.

But he called for further reforms to disaster prevention and relief strategies, including speeding up post-disaster reconstruction and building major water conservancy projects. He also named strengthening disaster surveillance and emergency management as priorities.

Vice-Premier Wang Yang, who is head of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, attended the meeting and delivered a speech.

Efforts should be made to accelerate water conservancy and flood control capabilities in flood-prone cities, and provide safe environments for economic and social development, Wang said.

Leadership from the central government and sufficient preparation by departments and local authorities enabled China to withstand this year’s serious floods and save people’s lives and property, he said.

He added that reform of the disaster prevention and mitigation system should be stepped up to put prevention and risk reduction at the forefront.

Wang said more work should be done to accelerate consolidation of weak sections along large rivers, manage branches, and reinforce small reservoirs.

Meanwhile, establishing a rural alarm system and building urban underground pipelines should be sped up with more efforts made to unclog rain sources and eliminate risks, he said.