China is experiencing high frequency of environmental accidents, due to reckless pursuing of fast economic growth and lack of emergency reaction mechanism, a senior Chinese environmental official said in Beijing Thursday.

"A series of grave environmental accidents have occurred since the beginning of this year," said Wang Yuqing, deputy director of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA), at a national video conference on handling environmental pollution.

The major cause, he said, is that some regions are not significantly prepared to prevent and handle environmental emergencies.

"As a result, they are obviously weak in handling major environmental emergencies, including filing reports and monitoring accidents," said Wang.

He singled out the environmental administration of Jilin Province, criticizing its poor performance in collecting information and delaying reporting to the SEPA the recent chemical spill in the Songhua River.

One hundred tons of benzene were spilled into the Songhua River in northeast China after a petrochemical plant blast on the river on Nov. 13. The accident forced cities and towns along the river to suspend water supply to residents for several days.

"We missed the best opportunity to contain the pollution because of their poor work," said Wang.

Wang said there are still many unreported hazards to the environment around the country as some plants are built on river banks and in residential areas. Accidents in those places might cause new ecological disasters, he warned.

Some regional governments gave tacit consent to the discharging of pollutants into rivers in the random pursuit of economic growth, he said, adding some regions also approve the construction of polluting businesses that are forbidden by the central government.

He asked local authorities to learn from the Songhua River pollution accident and immediately check hidden environmental hazards in their areas. He urged the regions to make environmental emergency response plans, establish command and control systems to handle environmental emergencies and publicize methods of preventing such accidents.

According to the SEPA, only 14 provinces in China have emergency reaction plans in the event of environmental accidents.

"After the Songhua River pollution occurred, the State Environmental Protection Administration activated its preparedness plan for the first time. The plan proved useful in dispelling panic and controlling the pollution," said Wang.

(Xinhua News Agency December 2, 2005)