China: Public urged to play bigger role in disaster management

The Chinese public should be more involved in community-based disaster prevention and relief, said Yang Fang, assistant country director of UNDP China, at a three-day forum on community-based disaster management in southwest China's Yunnan Province, reports Xinhua.

Yang said that the importance of community-based disaster management in China became clearer after a devastating earthquake left more than 85,000 people dead or missing in Sichuan Province in 2008.