BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday ordered an all-out search and rescue of the people missing in the recent flood disaster in southwest Sichuan Province.
The president also demanded a comprehensive investigation and bolstered safety supervision to ensure the safety of the people’s lives and properties.
A brief bout of heavy rain on 21 August triggered a natural calamity at a highway construction site along a river in Jinyang County in Sichuan’s Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture.
President Xi directed ensuring appropriate steps to console the victims’ families, according to Xinhua.
He has asked the State Council to deploy a task force to conduct a thorough probe into the disaster and take strict actions against those responsible in accordance with the law.
President Stresses Drawing Lessons
The president said that lessons must be learned from the disaster and comprehensive investigations must be carried out to address issues and risks and ensure that all parties involved earnestly perform their duties.
Premier Li Qiang has also issued directions, urging prompt measures to ascertain relevant facts and information, as well as a search and rescue operation of the missing. Li called for measures to identify the reason for the disaster, learn lessons from it and punish those responsible.
Following the orders from the top leadership, the Ministry of Emergency Management dispatched a work group to the site to supervise search and rescue operations.
Local authorities in Liangshan and Sichuan are also mobilizing rescue forces for relief operations.
