Ms. Peng Xia outlined her plan for community-wide preparedness to help cope with the city’s susceptibility to extreme weather conditions.

1. The City

China’s leading “environmentally friendly city” Weihai is also blessed by a protective geography. Situated at the end of the Shandong Peninsula, it has experienced few earthquakes and no real typhoons or tsunamis. The last earthquake occurred in 1945, causing some destruction but no loss of life. For ‘natural disasters’, it has primarily known only severe weather. 

For two days in June 1993, the city suffered an exceptionally heavy rainstorm. Heavy wind and drenching rain caused local floods, left four people dead and 13 injured; 402 fishing boats were destroyed along with heavy damage to 3800 homes. There was also damage to electric utilities and roads, worth an estimated 9 million yuan. Eleven years later, in 2004, heavy rains and winds came again. This storm killed two, one disappeared and one was seriously injured. Physical damage was greater, however, as 85 bridges and one dock were washed out by resulting floods, and 110 fishing boats were lost in the harbor. In 2006 a heavy winter snow storm hit the city. It snowed continuously for more than two weeks, leaving snow depths up to 2.5 meters, setting a record for the past 50 years. Sea, land and air traffic came to a halt; 360,000 square meters of factory buildings and 270 homes collapsed under the weight of the snow. Fifty-five fishing boats were destroyed; two people died and 3 were injured.

None of these storms called for more than regular emergency activities. The government led rescue and reconstruction activities and citizens volunteered to help and collected special relief funds for those in need. Special efforts were made to keep the maternal and child health care services operating effectively. High priority was given to women and children and to maternity services; in one case a pregnant woman was rescued from a car stranded in the blizzard and was given special medical attention. In all cases, however, it was found that simply making sure that regular health and social services were kept in good operation was sufficient.

Weihai is located at mid-latitude, and its climate is in the temperate zone of continental monsoon climate. Floods occur easily, and so do droughts, typhoons, storm-tides, hail-storms, frost damage, as well as other potentially disastrous weather patterns. But despite the city’s history of susceptibility and problems caused by the natural elements, its emergent rescue system is slow to react and lacks drilling. Also, there is not close coordination among people in the community, the first and most important source of help and rescue. This means there is a lack of mutual association, concern and mutual help. So the city needs to enhance the level of disaster prevention and the emergency response capacity, and also develop disaster-prevention awareness, preparedness and welfare in the community.

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2. The Proposed Action Plan

In order to bring about community-wide preparedness for future disasters which may occur in the city, the Action plan aims to develop a ‘Disaster Prevention Welfare Community’ in Weihai. The community will be headed and funded by the local government, and will incorporate various departments. Its two main tasks will be to improve emergency response capacity, and to establish community partnerships for the sharing of knowledge and information on disaster preparedness. The plan will also incorporate a Community Development School, and will rally support from the local media to promote its various activities.

Children are led to safety during heavy snows in Weihai

Weihai Action Plan Time Frame (1): September 2007 – January 2009

Weihai Action Plan Time Frame (2): June – October 2009

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