A national public emergency defense system will soon be implemented to better safeguard people from all kinds of disasters.

These emergencies include industrial accidents, natural disasters, traffic accidents, sanitation problems and other public security threats.

Last year spending on public emergencies consumed 65 billion yuan, five percent of GDP, according to statistics collected by a vice professor at the National School of Administration.

He says this new national public emergency defense system is indispensable to protect people's rights.

China's has an emergency defense system but it is very specific to certain emergencies in certain places and lacks of unified regulation to tackle nationwide emergencies.

(People's Daily August 9, 2005)