Flood rescue and firefighting drills as well as safety inspections have been carried out across China to enhance capabilities of emergency response and ensure safety in production, in accordance with arrangement made by competent central government agencies.
In view of the frequent occurrence of fire accidents and flood disasters in parts of China during the summer, the Work Safety Committee of the State Council and the Ministry of Emergency Management have jointly issued a series of instructions and adopted multiple measures to deal with possible natural disasters including fire and floods triggered by torrential rains.
In Pinghu City of east China's Zhejiang Province, local emergency response and power supply administration authorities carried out safety inspections for possible hazards and organized firefighting drills at charging poles for electric vehicles and electric bicycles within their jurisdictional regions.
Besides, local residents and students have been offered opportunities to learn safety knowledge and ways of dealing with unexpected situations through simulations using immersive VR technologies.
In Songyuan City of northeast China's Jilin Province, a firefighting drill was conducted at a shopping mall by the local fire department. During the drill, firefighters evacuated people trapped by flames to a safe area and performed tasks such as delivering fire hoses and putting out the fire.
As many places across the country have been shattered by heavy rains and rain-triggered disasters, places like northwest China's Qinghai Province and east China's Jiangxi Province have carried out flood control and relief drills to enhance their water-rescue capabilities.
The fire departments of east China's Fujian Province and central China's Hunan Province have organized firefighting drills and carried out inspections on hidden hazards in hazardous chemical firms and science parks, sparing no effort to bolster danger avoidance and self-protection awareness on the part of enterprise employees and members of the general public.
China ramps up emergency response drills, safety inspections
China and Kazakhstan have witnessed an upsurge in people-to-people and cultural exchanges in recent years, a development that Chinese President Xi Jinping hailed in a signed article published in Kazakh media outlets prior to his visit to the central Asian country.
Xi arrived for a state visit to Kazakhstan on Tuesday, where he will also attend the 24th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
On the same day, the signed article from the Chinese president was published in the Kazakhstanskaya Pravda newspaper and Kazinform International News Agency under the title "Staying True to Our Shared Commitment and Opening a New Chapter in China-Kazakhstan Relations."
In the article, Xi highlighted the enduring friendship between the Chinese and Kazakh peoples, citing an example involving Chinese musician Xian Xinhai and Kazakh composer Bakhytzhan Baikadamov.
Over 80 years ago, Xian and Baikadamov met and became close and devoted friends despite their different nationalities and languages.
"In 1943, my father happened to meet Xian Xinghai, who was sitting on a box holding a violin. Seeing how helpless and homeless Xian was, my father took his hand and brought him home," Baikadamova's daughter Baldyrgan said.
Xi also mentioned the much-respected Kazakh ophthalmologist Saulebek Kabibekov, who treated more than 200,000 patients during his 25-year stay in northeastern China.
There was also a nod to the hugely popular Kazakh singer Dimash Kudaibergen, who took China by storm after he won the second place in a popular reality singing competition, "Singer 2017", and later had the chance to meet Xi.
"I first met President Xi in 2017. After the performance, he came to me and told me about his impressions [of] my work and musical journey in China. Since then, I've been exploring Chinese culture and history which, of course, has inspired me infinitely," said Kudaibergen.
People-to-people exchanges between the two countries have also become more frequent since mutual visa-exemption arrangements took effect last year, facilitating greater travel between the two sides.
Last year, a total of 600,000 cross-border trips were recorded. In the first quarter of 2024, the number of visits in both directions had already amounted to 200,000 and are expected to reach a new high by the end of the year.
China, Kazakhstan see upsurge in people-to-people, cultural exchanges
