A meeting for sharing experience of monitoring, preventing and managing the risk of natural disasters took place in Taiyuan on Nov 16.

As a province prone to mudslides and subsidence, Shanxi has been committed to the prevention of geological disasters in recent years. During the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), the central government and provincial authorities invested 1.32 billion yuan ($192.18 million) in managing regions in areas of high risk, among which 378 sites have been subject to special protection measures.

A network for the monitoring and prevention of hazards has been further expanded. The province has arranged people, including officials and citizens, to be on duty in more than 10,000 places where some 710,000 residents are at potential risk, with 80 percent of counties helping to subsidize this service.

Apart from prevention, the evacuation of locals is needed in some cases to help protect them from the risk of disasters such as earthquakes. It's estimated that 245,000 households will be moved and settled in safer environments by the end of 2020 with the financial support worth 33 billion yuan from the Shanxi government.