Xi urges disaster prevention after floods

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for improving the country's ability to prevent, mitigate and respond to natural disasters, following a series of deadly floods and landslides this summer. His remarks, published in Qiushi, a journal central to Communist Party messaging, come after China's strongest typhoon of the year battered the capital and other regions, and after landslides in China — Gansu and China — Chongqing killed dozens. Xi urged a shift towards pre-disaster prevention, stronger monitoring and early-warning systems, and efforts to close gaps in flood-control and drainage infrastructure in northern China. He also stressed that disaster risks must not be allowed to spill into economic, energy, food and social security, and urged the use of technologies including artificial intelligence, drones and satellite remote sensing in rescue efforts. The remarks were drawn from a speech delivered at a Politburo study session on April 28. Scientists link the increasing extreme weather to climate change and an emerging El Niño pattern.