After experiencing a severe landslide disaster, a disaster occurred in the Chayang section of the Meida Expressway in Meizhou, Guangdong province in the early hours of May 1st, resulting in numerous casualties. Subsequently, to strengthen response and preventive measures, Huang Kunming, the Secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Committee, quickly convened an expanded meeting of provincial leaders and emphasized the need for a detailed investigation of risk hazards throughout the province.
Huang Kunming stressed that comprehensive investigations must be conducted, especially in key areas and critical fields, such as the geological hazard risk points along roads and road drainage capacity enhancement, to ensure clean-up and safety of the surrounding environment to prevent such disasters from happening again.
All levels of leadership closely focused on improving monitoring capabilities, identifying and dealing with risk points, setting up warning signs, and other key measures. In necessary cases, they would not hesitate to close risk road sections to ensure the absolute safety of people and vehicles and reasonably divert traffic.
In addition, Huang Kunming personally visited the landslide site to guide the rescue work together with Governor Wang Weizhong. They also deeply bowed at the disaster site to mourn the victims.
It’s noteworthy that not only Meizhou in Guangdong is taking action, but also the party and government leaders from several other prefecture-level cities, such as Zhongshan, Chaozhou, Yunfu, Jieyang, and Shanwei, are actively involved, ensuring road safety through on-site inspections and supervisory checks to prevent similar disasters.
In specific operations, leaders covered all aspects of road traffic safety work, including on-site inspections in high-risk areas, in-depth discussions with technical experts on bridge maintenance, and promoting multi-level hazard investigation and rectification to ensure public safety.
Local officials are actively responding to the challenge of roadbed safety, strengthening preventive measures to ensure public safety. Recently, due to concentrated rainfall, the moisture content in some roadbeds reached saturation levels, and local government leaders went to the front lines to supervise the implementation of safety production measures.
Xiao Zhanxin visited the site to check the progress of the slope engineering and the safety of the ramp foundation. He emphasized the importance of increasing inspection mechanisms, investigating hidden dangers, and how to continue protecting and maintaining slopes during the rainy season.
He Xiaojun, the Secretary of the Chaozhou Municipal Committee, went to the Xinfeng section of the Dachao Expressway to understand on-site the slope geological disaster governance plan and to inspect the safety control measures. He emphasized the coordination to resolve difficulties encountered in the governance work, and stressed the need to accelerate construction progress and the importance of protection and signage. He Xiaojun also pointed out that it is necessary to decisively close risky sections to ensure the safety of construction personnel and passing vehicles when necessary.
Considering the current weather conditions and the forthcoming holiday’s potential increase in pedestrian and vehicular traffic, posing serious and complex challenges to safety, He Xiaojun proposed the importance of carefully investigating geological disaster risks and continuously strengthening the frequency of patrols and inspections to take preventive measures in a timely manner.
Jieyang Municipal Party Secretary Wang Sheng and Mayor Zhi Guangnan went to Jie Xi County and Puning City respectively to inspect the production safety work during the holiday period. Wang Sheng personally visited the Dayang section of the S228 line to survey the situation, emphasizing the importance of early consultation to assess rainfall and perfecting the emergency response plan. He also specifically stressed increasing patrol efforts at night, especially on dangerous stretches of road such as steep slopes, sharp turns, and cliffs near water.
In Yunfu City, Municipal Party Secretary Lu Rongchun supervised the repair work on the G234 national highway in Yunan County, emphasizing the response to disaster situations. Meanwhile, in Shanwei City, Mayor Zheng Haitao conducted inspections along the highway.
All leaders unanimously required special attention to the sections of road where rainfall is concentrated, to act quickly to address the risks of landslides and collapses that could result from saturation of the roadbed, and to take countermeasures. They called for enhancing road safety management comprehensively to provide stronger protection for the public and traffic safety.
He also mentioned the need to cross-check for hidden road traffic safety hazards, increase safety production patrols during the flood season, intensify patrols on high-risk sections, especially increasing the frequency of night road patrols, and improve emergency plans.
We welcome everyone to share your views on landslide disaster emergency response and disposal and the overall work of safety prevention in the province, share your opinions, and participate in the discussion.
