In China

researching disasters sort by sort and reducing disasters branch by branch is still in its basic organizational and implementary disaster-related work form nowadays

but plenty of information achieved from past comprehensive studies on these aspects carried out last years has shown clearly that the natural disaster studies are right tending to be guided by the systematic perspective

and that the disaster reducing work is right developing to the trend of being integrated and socialized.In order to promote the movement of International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction of China

the National Working Group on Natural Disasters was founded in 1991 under the leading of the former State Science and Technology Commission

State Planning Commission and State Economy and Trade Commission of P. R. China

for short

National Working Group on Natural disasters of three Commissions-renamed in 1999 as National Working Group on Disasters of three Ministry and Commissions. Itis comprised by experts from the former State Meteorological Administration

State Seismological Bureau and State Oceanic Administration as well as experts from the former Ministry of Water Resources

Ministry of Geology and Minerals

Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Forestry of P. R. China. Since its founding

this working group has carried out the comprehensive investigations and studies on the regularities of every major natural hazards and natural disasters in China for more than 10 years

based on which more than 20 monographs and several hundreds of articles on these aspects have been completed up to new. According to these work

some important comprehensive and integrated strategies and countermeasures for national natural disaster reduction have been put forward simultaneously. These disaster research productions and disaster reduction practice made it clear that the comprehensive study on natural disasters are still a very important item of the whole nation’s disaster- reduction career and of the social and economic development projects of China in the 21st century.