Chengdu a model for post-disaster reconstruction
Updated: 2011-05-14 15:24
By Huang Zhiling(chinadaily.com.cn)
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Asha-Rose Migiro, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, presented the award to the representative of Chengdu. |
Chengdu, capital city of southwest China's Sichuan province, has been honored by the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) for its achievements in reconstruction since the magnitude-8.0 earthquake on May 12, 2008.
In the Third United Nations Conference on the Global Platform for Disaster Reduction on May 11 Swiss local time, the UNISDR granted the Role Model for Resilient Development award to Xie Ruiwu, deputy mayor of Chengdu.
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The certificate of recognition for the city of Chengdu as a "role model for resilient development" |
Xie is also the president of his city's disaster reduction committee.
With the theme “Today's investment is for a more secure tomorrow - to increase investment in local work,” the conference drew more than 3,000 participants from 635 cities in 172 countries.
Role Model for Resilient Development, a major award of the conference, is aimed at honoring cities which have made outstanding achievements in post-disaster rehabilitation and reconstruction and can provide experience and examples for other cities in the world to emulate.
In 2010, North Vancouver in Canada and six other cities in the world became the first laureates of the award. This year, Chengdu and other seven cities such as Venice in Italy and Mumbai in India became the second batch of laureates, and Chengdu is the first Chinese city to have won the award.
Chengdu did an excellent job in the relief and reconstruction after the earthquake. Its practice and experience tallied with the goal of the UN, said the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro in the awarding ceremony.
After the devastating earthquake, Chengdu created a miracle in quake relief as it had no famine, no displaced persons, and no outbreak of epidemic or social unrest.
The city reinforced disaster prevention and set up its disaster reduction committee whose members include more than 30 departments in the city. Constrution of its some 1,000 sites for emergency evacuation has started.. Construction of western China's largest and most advanced disaster emergency rescue training base has been completed, Xie said.
In addition, the city investigated sites of potential secondary disasters after the quake, relocating farmers living there, harnessing the sites and improving the capacity of buildings to resist more devastating earthquakes, he said.
Participants to the conference spoke highly of the experience of the city and its work in the past three years.
Susan Lisa from the UK said she had followed the the reconstruction of Chengdu since the quake, and that she was surprised with its change.
In the past three years, Chengdu has overcome the negative factors of the earthquake and the international financial crisis to to achieve sound and fast economic and social development.
Last year, its local general budget revenue was 52.69 billion yuan, an increase of 36% over the previous years. Its actual utilization of foreign investment and its total amount of import and export both ranked first in the central and wetern parts of the country.
Volkswagen, Texas Instruments, Dell, Lenovo, Foxconn, Compal, Wistron and a number of world famous enterprises invested or set up branches in Chengdu last year, bringing the total number of Fortune 500 companies in the city to189.