Beijing is setting up a team of professional emergency rescue workers for any potential disasters including earthquakes, fires, bombings and nuclear catastrophes, according to the municipal seismological bureau.

Meanwhile, as many as 18 emergency shelters will be built in the Chinese capital this year.

According to officials, all the districts and counties in Beijing have established their own rescue teams made up of firefighters, medical workers and police officers.

They can be quickly dispatched if a catastrophe breaks out.

"But the rescue party on site will mainly conduct rescue work at the most essential facilities covering government institutions, waterworks and power stations," Yang Guobin, an official with the municipal seismological bureau told China Daily yesterday.

He pointed out that even though no natural disasters have been foreseen for the near future in or near Beijing, the team is being set up given the fact that China is a quake-prone country and the capital should be intact.

Also, Yang said the team can be sent to the country's other areas to help rescue work if the capital is not in a state of emergency.

At the moment, a huge safe haven is in construction near the southern section of the capital's axis road. It is one of the 18 contingency centres Beijing is due to build in its eight downtown districts this year.

Once completed, helicopters will be able to land on the two landing pads in place, administering emergency first aid.

As well, there will be one medical assistance centre, eight emergent bathrooms and a pair of water supply stations.

Last October, the city completed its first emergency shelter at Yuandadu Chengyuan Relic Park in northeastern Beijing's Chaoyang District.

Well-equipped and being a peaceful place among apartment towers away from traffic noise and pollution, the park is attracting many nearby dwellers for morning running or merely enjoying the natural landscape every day.

Peng Xiansheng, one of the 300,000-plus residents living in the 28 apartment complex communities nearby, is a frequent visitor there.

"I think the number of fatalities would have been much less if we had an emergency haven just like this one in 1976," said the 65-year-old Peng, who is a survivor of the 1976 dreadful earthquake in Tangshan, North China's Hebei Province, in which around 240,000 people were killed.

"These multi-functional establishments are definitely necessary," said Yang, adding that the city now has 5,300 hectares of land that can be used for such facilities.

Among them are 140 parks covering an area of 4,760 hectares, a dozen large-scale stadiums and quite a few school playgrounds.

However, at certain places in downtown Beijing, such as the Fangzhuang area in Chongwen District, buildings are too close to each other, hardly making sufficient room for emergency infrastructure.

(China Daily May 27, 2004)