Asian Development Bank (ADB) said it would offer 650,000 U.S. dollars to China to help the country improve its disaster risk management system.

The fund will be used to make a thorough examination of the current system and to help China to make a more effective strategy on risk management, ADB told Xinhua on Tuesday.

It also aims to involve the participation of civil society and private organizations, said ADB.

It is immensely urgent for China and many other countries to set up a more sharing and consistent system of risk management, which incorporates non-governmental organizations. It will help relieve the burden on the government, said ADB.

The money is a supplement to the one-million-U.S. dollars technical assistance fund ADB offered in May last year to support reconstruction after the 8.0-magnitude earthquake in Sichuan Province.

(Xinhua News Agency January 28, 2009)