The Poster News APP:

Every year, the MEM allocates over 10 billion yuan yearly in disaster relief funds and materials in collaboration with relevant departments. Such rescue and assistance are particularly crucial during winter and spring rescue periods and the major flood season, where affected people require timely help to overcome their difficulties. My question is: what measures has the MEM taken to ensure an efficient and orderly allocation and distribution of these funds and materials? Thank you.

Wang Daoxi:

Thank you for the question. We efficiently and orderly allocated and distributed disaster relief funds and materials to support and help affected areas, secured the basic living needs of the disaster-stricken people, assisted them in overcoming their difficulties, and made them feel the care and warmth of the Party and the government, which is an important responsibility and mission of the emergency management authorities and an important project of the heart. In recent years, with the strong central government support of disaster relief funds and materials, resettlement and relief work in various affected areas has been generally stable, recovery and reconstruction of damaged houses have been carried out in an orderly manner, and the basic living needs of disaster-stricken people have been properly ensured. To ensure efficient and orderly allocation and distribution of disaster relief funds and materials, the MEM has worked with relevant departments to carry out works focusing on four aspects:

First, we strengthened top-level design and improved relevant policies and systems. In recent years, the MEM has collaborated with the National Development and Reform Commission, finance and grain storage authorities, and other departments to formulate a series of institutional documents such as the Emergency Material Guarantee Plan During the 14th Five-Year Plan, the Interim Measures for Management of the Central Natural Disaster Relief Funds, the Interim Measures for Reserve Management of the Central Emergency Rescue and Disaster Relief Materials, and the Norms for Winter and Spring Assistance Work for Disaster Victims. We have put forward clear requirements for each link, providing a solid institutional guarantee for the efficient and orderly allocation and distribution of disaster relief funds and materials.

Second, we strengthened coordination and promoted the building of an efficient working mechanism. The MEM has established an inter-ministerial disaster consultation and evaluation mechanism, conducting regular and major special consultations for disasters that provide a powerful decision-making basis for allocating central disaster relief funds and materials. We have also worked with the Ministry of Finance to establish a quick pre-allocation and precise verification mechanism for central disaster relief funds allocation and have been constantly improving it. After the national disaster response is activated, we can initiate the pre-allocation of funds according to the evaluated disaster situation, ensuring the allocation efficiency of disaster relief funds. We have promoted the establishment of multi-departmental coordination, military-civilian linkage support, and participation of private actors such as enterprises, social organizations, and volunteers to form a joint force for material guarantee work.

Third, we have stepped up our service capabilities and built a system to ensure provision of disaster-relief supplies. The MEM has been working with grain reserve authorities and other departments to improve the national layout of central disaster-relief supply reserves, significantly increase their size, and continually extend the selection of supplies. We have guided all localities to deploy these reserves at the grassroots level and set up a mechanism for coordinated emergency response with related enterprises. We have employed various methods, such as physical stocks, agreement reserves, and production capacity reserves, to step up emergency response capabilities and ensure the timely supply of materials. By arranging emergency distribution in a holistic way and maintaining an unobstructed distribution channel for the "last mile," we ensure that no household or individual is left behind. 

Fourth, we have increased supervision to safeguard the vital interests of people affected by disasters. All local governments have been instructed to target affected people and fully consider their needs. Comprehensive account books have been completed, and technological means such as big data comparison have been utilized to ensure that disaster-relief materials and funds are distributed to disaster-stricken households and individuals. The management platform for emergency response resources has been developed and promoted to coordinate the allocation of disaster-relief materials and streamline public rescue channels. We have promptly sent working groups to manage disaster-relief funds and materials, and check, instruct and urge local governments to accelerate distribution in a well-regulated way to ensure the care and help from the Party and the government reach disaster-affected people in a timely manner to guarantee their basic living needs.