PRC's Push to Improve Disaster Management Gets ADB Support

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - In the wake of the devastating Sichuan earthquake, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide a $650,000 grant to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to help improve its disaster risk management system.

The funds will be used to conduct a full review of the current system and to help the PRC develop a risk management strategy that is coordinated, effective, and more inclusive of the civil society and the private sector. It is the first time that ADB is providing technical assistance (TA) to support the development of public/private partnerships in disaster management.

The need for a more inclusive, coordinated approach to disaster risk management in the PRC has never been greater. In the past 50 years, the country has been hit by 50 earthquakes with an intensity of over 7.0 on the Richter scale, while other disasters and natural calamities such as severe floods have also increased. In the May 2008 Sichuan quake alone, nearly 70,000 people died, about 18,000 were reported missing and 1.5 million were evacuated.

"In the past there has been no mechanism for those (outside of government) who want to contribute and this TA will help address that concern. It will ultimately reduce the burden on the government,” says Manmohan Parkash, Principal Transport Specialist for ADB’s East Asia Department.

The grant complements an earlier technical assistance grant of $1 million, approved in May 2008, to provide a preliminary assessment of the earthquake damage and reconstruction needs for Sichuan.

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