Action: School building safety project to be launched in China

School safety is not an issue only for the earthquake-hit regions. The Chinese Government is alarmed by the lessons learned from the Wenchuan Earthquake.

On April 1, the Executive Meeting of the State Council presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao decided to officially launch the middle and primary schools safety building project. In order to remove potential risks and strengthen disaster-resistance capabilities, within three years, China will relocate the schools or consolidate the buildings of different types of urban and rural middle and primary schools in the areas that are likely to be hit by natural disasters. Meanwhile, the Central Government will allocate an additional 8 billion yuan in special funds to support the school building safety project in the central and western regions under key earthquake surveillance and protection, and in other areas likely to be affected by geological disasters.

A teleconference on the school building safety project in China was held on May 8. Liu Yandong, State Councilor, stressed again that the safe and robust middle and primary schools should be constructed to stand the test of time. Zhou Ji, Minister of Education, said that the safety records of every school building should be kept in files and the school building safety information of all middle and primary schools should be mastered, so that a complete school buildings information database will be created. A dynamic information management system of middle and primary school buildings will also be gradually established, to lay a solid foundation for the timely surveillance and management in the future.

Throughout China, a national action concerning the safety of middle and primary school buildings is now in full swing.

Translated by LOTO

Editor:Ying Yu