Relevant official of MEP reported to the media today that MEP has initiated and issued 14 prevention programs, schemes and technical guidance centering on environmental emergency monitoring, ruling out of hidden problems and ensuring the safety of drinking water in quake hit areas up to now. With those in place, MEP has guided environmental emergency response in disaster relief and recovery work in quake hit areas in an all round way.

The official said that soon after the Wenchuan earthquake on May 12 in Sichuan Province, MEP took immediate action according to the overall arrangements of CCCPC and the State Council. It soon issued the Circular on the Prevention and Response to Secondary Environmental Pollution Accidents by Earthquake Disaster and launched the National Emergency Response Program for Sudden Environmental Accidents. It requires environmental protection developments at all levels in the quake-hit areas earnestly carry out emergency monitoring and investigation & ruling out of hidden environmental safety risks and prevent secondary environmental accidents so as to ensure environmental safety of the quake hit areas.

The official said, to do well environmental monitoring in the quake hit areas, MEP immediately developed the Work Program on Emergency Environmental Monitoring during Earthquake Relief  on May 13 and issued the Circular on the Approval of the Early-Warning and Emergency Monitoring Work Program for Secondary Environmental Pollution Accidents after Earthquake Disaster in Sichuan, Chongqing, Shaanxi and Gansu. It requires that the areas suffering the heaviest destruction in the quake and neighboring provinces focus their attention to the change of the quality of drinking water sources and surface water and strengthen their work to ensure the operation of automatic water and air monitoring stations. In view of serious destruction on environmental supervision capacity caused by the quake, MEP has issued the Urgent Circular on Providing Sichuan Earthquake Hit Areas with Fast Monitoring Instruments, and dispatched fast environmental monitoring instrument to support the earthquake hit areas.

The official pointed out that CCCPC attaches great importance to drinking water safety of the quake-hit areas and requires the enhancement of the protection of drinking water sources of the quake hit areas. According to the arrangement by the Central Government, MEP has developed such documents as the Technical Guidance for the Protection of Collective Drinking Water Sources in Earthquake Hit Areas (Provisory), Emergency Response Technical Program for Ensuring the Safety of Drinking Water in Earthquake Hit Areas (Provisory) and Technical Guidance for the Monitoring of the Quality of Surface Water and Collective Drinking Water Sources of the Earthquake Disaster Areas (Provisory) to guide these areas to practically do well the work on ensuring the safety of drinking water. At the same time, in view of possible impacts of sanitation and anti-epidemic measures in the quake-hit areas on the safety of drinking water, MEP in cooperation with other relevant ministries and commissions of the State Council　immediately issued the Urgent Circular on Doing Well the Work on the Safety of Drinking Water in Earthquake Hit Areas and Outline on Safe Use and Caution of the Disinfectant and Pesticide Chemicals in Earthquake Hit Areas, requiring such areas to do well sanitation and anti-epidemic work and strengthen the management of application of pesticides and the protection of water source areas.

The official said that with the deepening of the earthquake relief work, MEP has issued Guidance for Post-Disaster Site Clearing and Waste Management (Trial), Circular on Doing Well Environmental Protection Work in the Development of the Transitional Settlement Zones of the Earthquake Hit Areas, Technical Guidance for Environmental Protection of the Transitional Settlement Zones of the Earthquake Hit Areas (Provisory) and Technical Guidance for Safe Disposal of Medical Waste of Earthquake Hit Areas (Provisory) targeting on possible environmental risks and guided the quake hit areas to ensure public health and the safety of ecological environment.