BEIJING, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) — The Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee held a meeting on Thursday to study and arrange work on flood prevention and relief as well as post-disaster restoration and reconstruction.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, presided over the meeting and delivered an important speech.

The meeting noted that China has made significant achievements in flood prevention and disaster relief.

As China is still in the main flood season, rainstorms, floods, typhoons and other disasters still occur frequently in many places across the country, the meeting said.

Efforts must not be slackened as the risks of floods in some river basins still exist and risks of mountain torrents in parts of north and northeast China are high, while the fact that drought has developed in some regions should not be taken lightly, according to the meeting.

It urged relevant localities and departments to always prioritize the safety of people's lives and property, and keep doing a good job in flood prevention and disaster relief.

More efforts should be made to put in place precise early warning of and response to disasters, take the prevention of major floods in river basins as the top priority, and refine and implement prevention and security measures related to floods in small and medium-sized rivers and other weak links.

Measures should also be taken to coordinate flood prevention and the fight against drought, and act decisively to evacuate and relocate people from dangerous areas at critical moments, according to the meeting.

The meeting stressed all-out emergency rescue and relief efforts to help the trapped and search for the missing to minimize casualties. It also urged efforts to reinforce dams that are crucial or relatively weak, and meet the basic living needs of flood-hit residents.

Disaster relief funds should be used efficiently to repair damaged infrastructure such as transport, communications and electricity, and restore farmland and agricultural facilities, the meeting said.

The meeting also highlighted the restoration of schools, hospitals and nursing homes, as well as the damaged housing to ensure the affected residents can return home or move to new homes before the winter.

Financial institutions should optimize and simplify relevant procedures to strengthen loan support and enhance insurance payouts, according to the meeting.

It urged efforts to improve the country's disaster prevention, mitigation and relief capabilities, further strengthen emergency command systems at all levels, and enhance the capacity of regional emergency rescue centers across the country.

The meeting also called for enhancing disaster prevention and emergency response capacity at grassroots levels.

It urged speeding up the improvement of the flood-control engineering system of river basins, especially major river basins in north China, and strengthening capacity planning and building on flood control and drainage in cities.

(Source: Xinhua)