Public service arises from a human face Updated: 2004-01-12 07:20
It is encouraging to hear the central government has decided to upgrade the
nation's emergency rescue system " particularly since China is one of the
world's most earthquake-prone countries.
In fact, under the co-ordination
of the State Council " the Chinese cabinet " and the China Seismological Bureau,
members of a small team of experts known as the China International Search and
Rescue Team (CISAR) have already performed some of the core tasks in
earthquake-related rescue missions in places like Bam, Iran.
According
to CISAR experts, China has long sought to match its disaster rescue efforts,
which used to be performed by the infantry troops of the People's Liberation
Army (PLA), with the increasingly sophisticated nature of missions in the modern
industrial setting.
The army, however disciplined and quick to dispatch,
is not trained for performing such duties. The key to a successful rescue task
is unmistakenly the professional guidance of its execution.
And in areas
where even the dispatch of soldiers is difficult, such as the distant corners of
the western frontiers, nothing can be more important for saving lives than
immediately flying in a well-trained search and rescue team. Prior to hearing
about the establishment of CISAR and its network, the Chinese public was merely
told, whenever news of a disaster broke out, that rescue attempts were being
made. But efforts to live up to such public expectations were never part of the
tradition of the planned economy.
Now that the planned economy has become
history and people are regarded as the most valuable source to sustain the
nation's economic progress, a better, more effective system to save lives is
overdue.
A pitiable imbalance would remain between economic and social
progress without setting up such a system, without letting it be funded by the
State coffer, and without having it duly cover, as the CISAR team has pledged,
China's vast and under-developed western frontiers.
Every person's life,
be it a mountaineering foreign tourist, or a young worker in a privately held
coal mine, deserves equal commitment from the People's Republic. And the
establishment of CISAR is a good pledge of that commitment.
Maintaining
an adequately trained and equipped national search and rescue system is of
course a costly undertaking. But costly as it is, this should not be considered
a luxury only available in wealthier countries. In fact, however costly, it
cannot cost society more than the half-empty investment zones, or other wasteful
land development projects, that the central government has recently criticized.
All regional governments should join their efforts to support CISAR.
They should be required by the nation's central leadership to do so, because
such a requirement would not only be helpful to the protection of lives, but
serve to remind regional officials of the other important duties they have to
fulfil, beyond chasing ever increasing figures in the growth of gross domestic
product.
(China Daily )
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