China: Disaster prone areas also some of the most inhabited

According to People's Daily Online, more than 70 percent of Chinese cities and upwards of half the country's population are exposed to natural hazards, such as extreme weather events plus seismic, geological and marine disasters, said a Chinese scientist. "We have to live with the fact, and focus first on what we can do to reduce the risk through reducing vulnerability. And some of that is engineering, technical things and people's behavior," said John Handmer, director of the Center for Risk and Community Safety at Australia's RMIT University.