Geological hazards play no role in Henan casualties, injuries: Official

Thanks to solid prevention and timely evaluation, geological disasters played no role in causing casualties or injuries in rain-ravaged Henan province, a senior Chinese official said on Wednesday.

Since Central China's Henan was hit by heavy downpours, the Natural Resources Department in Henan sent six working groups to the frontline to inspect hidden geological hazards, said Yu Haifeng, head of the Geological Exploration Department of the Ministry of Natural Resources, at a news conference.

As of Wednesday, 139 geological hazards were found to be caused by the heavy rain in Henan. Thanks to timely evaluation, geological disasters played no role in casualties or injuries.

He also noted China will continue to carry out prevention measures to reduce the harm of geological disasters as the flood season continues in August.

More experts will be sent to the frontline to provide guidance. Aftermath inspections also will be strengthened to prevent the reoccurrence of disasters, Yu said.

Yao Wenguang, director of the ministry's Department of Flood and Drought Disaster Prevention, said since the flood season started this year, 180,000 county-level mountain flood disasters alerts were issued. A total of 590 million warning messages were sent to the public to prevent the harm caused by disasters.

As many areas in China are still facing heavy rains, Yao reminded the public to pay attention to weather changes and warning information.

"In the heavy rain, try not to travel, stay away from mountainous areas and rivers. And please be cautious and protect yourself," he said.