Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu on Wednesday called for improvements to the country's earthquake forecasting and rescue capabilities and higher awareness of earthquake preparation.

A series of policies and measures have been taken in monitoring earthquakes and emergency responses, which contributed to the efforts in minimizing losses caused by quakes, said Hui at a national conference on earthquake preparation and relief.

This year, breakthroughs needed to be made in raising the accuracy of earthquake forecasting, and improving overall preparation, he said.

The construction of monitoring stations and networks should be strengthened and the layout should be optimized. Preparation and relief work needed to be improved in major cities as well as rural areas.

Hui called for enhanced leadership and team building in making preparation plans and managing relief funding and materials, and stressed the importance of coordination among military and local authorities.

He also called for campaigns to improve public knowledge of self-protection and self-rescue, and for officials to learn from the experiences of other countries in dealing with earthquakes.

(Xinhua News Agency January 26, 2007)