The top-down system of mobilizing and coordinating vast resources played a key role in the battle against the Yangtze flooding in 1998, the SARS crisis in 2003 and the snow chaos earlier this year, Zhuang said.

The strategy pushed by the Party in tackling crisis has always been welcomed and supported by the public and the military, he said.

The central government has enlisted many outdoor travel products and supplies companies to manufacture tents. China President Hu Jintao visited two tent manufacturers in eastern Zhejiang Province last week, urging them to produce as many as possible to meet the needs of the quake-hit zone.

So far, authorities from all across China have delivered more than 600,000 tents, 2,500 makeshift houses, 4 million shelters and 9.2 million items of clothing to the quake zone.

"The harder we work, the more comfortably people would live in the zone," said Yang Baoqing, board chairman of Taipusen, a travel products company.

The order of Premier Wen Jiabao to reach the epicenter Wenchuan County over the mountainous terrain was implemented by the armed forces despite bad weather and damaged roads. "It is worth trying to dispatch 10,000 troops to save one person," said an army officer.

About 130,000 troops have been drafted into the quake area from all over the country and more than 90,000 health workers were tackling the potential disease threats. Hospitals in 20 provinces and municipalities have received more than 7,000 patients from the quake zone.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) believes that people under the socialist system have no conflicts in their fundamental interests.

"The advantage of the socialist system is to mobilize and organize all social sectors effectively to make great achievements," said Leng Rong, director of the Party Literature Research Center of the CPC Central Committee.

(Xinhua News Agency May 31, 2 008)