On Apr. 14, MEP Vice Minister Zhou Jian held an emergent meeting with supervisors of related departments to make arrangements right after an earthquake hit Yushu County, Qinghai Province. They established a leading group for emergency response headed by Minister Zhou Shengxian and initiated a contingency plan. As the emergency response headquarters has been established, the work team and experts, altogether 20 people, rushed to the spot on Apr. 15. They started environmental monitoring and relief work with local environmental departments. Currently, no hidden danger of pollution has been detected and water quality remains normal.
To further strengthen environmental monitoring and emergency response, MEP is now deploying monitoring technicians, equipment and environmental experts to the disaster area. The equipment includes two inmarsat telephones, one vehicular mobile communication system, five emergency response kits, one portable heavy metal detector and one portable toxicity detector. The ministry is also making overall analysis of environment and set to take measures according to the level of environmental damage and impact.