China should work to establish an early warning system for forecast of tsunamis and earthquakes in its coastal regions, said an expert during the on-going session of the Tenth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

Chen Zhangli, former director of the China Seismological Bureau, said here Saturday that China should drawn a serious lesson from the catastrophic tsunamis that ravaged south and southeastern Asian countries last December.

As a country frequented by natural adversities and disasters for decades, China still lags far behind such nations as the United States and Japan in detecting quakes and expanding the global positioning system (GPS), said the CPPCC member.

Presently, Chinese public's anti-disaster awareness and capabilities remain inadequate and unadvanced. The country's present disasters forecasting and relief capabilities cannot keep pace with the fast pace of its social and economic development.

So, disaster-rescue and relief efforts should be prioritized and beefed up during the "11th five-year plan" period (2006-2010),which is now being deliberated by relevant government departments, suggested Chen.

Last year, natural calamities, including earthquakes, floods, dry spells and typhoons, claimed 2,250 lives, toppled down 1.55 million houses and affected 37.1 million hectares of crops in China.

(Xinhua News Agency March 6, 2005)