China will improve safety facilities in mines nationwide to prevent and tackle underground disasters, said the country's coal mine safety watchdog Wednesday.

By 2015, all the mines would be equipped with safety facilities to enhance their safety monitoring and emergency response capacities, said Zhao Tiechui, head of the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety, when hosting a national work safety meeting in the northern Shanxi Province.

The mine would establish systems to monitor the underground conditions and locate the underground workers, as well as ensure a good communication system, Zhao said.

Safety chambers and other rescue facilities would be built to provide a safe shelter, oxygen and clean water to trapped workers when a disaster occurred, Zhao said.

Chinese mines are prone to disasters, such as gas blasts and flooding, as 95 percent of them are underground.

(Xinhua News Agency May 20, 2010)