China will endeavor to strengthen its airborne disaster response capabilities during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period as it makes sustained efforts to improve its emergency response system, the Ministry of Emergency Management said on Feb 14.

Tang Congyuan, head of the ministry's department of planning and finance, told a news conference organized by the State Council Information Office that while such capabilities have improved in recent years, the "system is still in its infancy".

With limited access to large aircraft and inadequate distribution of airborne disaster response stations, the system lacks a sound supporting mechanism and sufficient personnel with necessary expertise, he said.

Tang vowed a series of measures to address such problems by vigorously mobilizing government and social resources.

He said the ministry will strive to equip the country's airborne disaster response teams with more firefighting aircraft so that they will be able to cover all key forest and grassland areas.

Aside from official airborne disaster response teams, the ministry will encourage and support the establishment of teams by civil aviation enterprises, air cargo companies and flight schools, Tang said.

"The ministry will improve the distribution of airports and stations for emergency responses through direct investment or purchasing related services," he said.

Along with renovating existing airports to improve aerial forest protection services, the ministry will also build a batch of new ones in key locations, he said. More landing strips, helipads and water and fuel stations will be set up in wilderness areas.

With cooperation and coordination between the ministry and the civil aviation sector enhanced, the construction of an airborne disaster response command platform will be accelerated, and a national dispatching system will be established, he said.

The cultivation of talent with airborne disaster response expertise will be another of the ministry's priorities in the next few years, he said. To train more talent, the ministry will build some comprehensive emergency support bases for airborne disaster response missions, which could not only provide logistics services but also offer locations for training and drills.

Thanks to consistent efforts in ramping up emergency responses, China has made marked progress in reducing casualties from accidents and natural disasters.

The country has seen no especially serious accidents for 28 straight months.
"It's the longest time span with no such accident since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949," said Su Jie, a ministry spokeswoman. In China, especially serious accidents usually refer to those that claim more than 30 lives, seriously injure over 100 or cause economic losses that exceed 100 million yuan ($15.8 million).

During the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) period, China saw the total number of accidents decrease by 43.3 percent compared with the previous five years.

The number of people killed by accidents fell by 38.8 percent, and the number of casualties in natural disasters declined by 37.6 percent.