China's new warning mechanism against geological disasters, such as landslides and ground subsidence, has helped save 29,514 people and avoid economic losses of over 400 million yuan (US$48.3 million) this year, the Ministry of Land and Resources said yesterday.

For years, the ministry has been striving to establish a grassroots monitoring and warning system against geological disasters, which depends mainly on the involvement of local people. Following some advanced practices used in other parts of the world, the ministry has started close co-operation with the China Meteorological Administration and has been issuing daily warnings through CCTV since June 1.

The new system has been in operation for 122 days, covering this year's rainy season. Normally, geological disasters triggered off by concentrated heavy rain every year in the rainy season make up more than 80 per cent of the year's total.

"Geological disasters pose a severe threat of the lives and property of our people. But we can avoid many losses if we pay sufficient attention,'' said Shou Jiahua, vice-minister of land and resources.

Statistics of the ministry indicate that over 1,000 lives and several billion yuan in property were lost in geological disasters each year on average, from 1995 to 2002.

Shou's words were echoed by Luo Dexuan, an official from Elanggou Village in Southwest China's Sichuan Province. Luo recalled the devastating mud-and-rock flow that took place this June 26 destroying most of his village.

"If it were not for the warning, I would not have gone out of my way to scrutinize the state of the surrounding cliffs and would not have detected signs of possible mud-and-rock flows,'' he said. It was Luo who called up every family in the village and made sure they all moved out of the danger area before disaster occurred.

The warning system reported an accuracy rate of over 38 per cent this year, and expects to improve in the future, said Shou. According to her, the ministry has decided to carry on this operation every year in the rainy season.

Following the implementation of the State-level warning system, various local governments across the country have also launched more focused warning mechanisms of their own.

For Jiang Jianjun, director of the Geological Environment Department under the ministry, the warning system is important also because it lets people see that geological disasters are not all "unpredictable natural calamities.''

A large proportion of geological disasters are actually caused by improper or ignorant human activities, such as construction work undertaken on geologically unsuitable sites, he said.

For example, man-made geological disasters made up more than 90 per cent of the total number for the year in 2002 in South China and could have been avoided through such measures as requiring geological surveys before the beginning of construction projects in areas where potential dangers exist.

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