The mainland is one of the countries with the most serious natural disasters in the world - more than 70 percent of the cities and more than 50 percent of the population are located in meteorological, earthquake, geological, marine and other high-risk areas, causing direct economic losses of more than 300 billion yuan every year. At the same time, the frequent occurrence of various extreme natural disasters has also exposed that there are many shortcomings and weaknesses in the construction of infrastructure projects such as flood control, disaster relief and emergency response, and the training of professional emergency personnel, and it is urgent to increase investment to further enhance the mainland's disaster prevention, mitigation and relief capabilities and grassroots disaster prevention and risk avoidance capabilities. The guests interviewed in this issue are Jiang Jiyi, Director of the Scientific Research Office of the College of Disaster Prevention Science and Technology, Zhou Zhenhai, Director of the Academic Affairs Office of the School of Disaster Prevention Science and Technology, and Tang Yandong, Dean of the School of Emergency Management of the College of Disaster Prevention Science and Technology.
The profession started late, and there is a large talent gap
Economy: As one of the countries with the most serious natural disasters in the world, what is the current structure and demand for human resources for disaster prevention, mitigation and relief on the mainland, and what are the gaps?
Jiang Jiyi: Since the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, the mainland's team of professionals in comprehensive disaster prevention, mitigation and relief has flourished. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council have attached great importance to disaster prevention, mitigation and relief, and have made a series of decisions and arrangements. In particular, the Party Central Committee has deepened the reform of the emergency management system and mechanism with Chinese characteristics, established the Ministry of Emergency Management, basically established a natural disaster management system with overall planning and coordination, division of labor and responsibility, and further improved the mechanisms of comprehensive consultation, research and judgment on disaster risk, integration of prevention, rescue and disaster relief, advance presetting of rescue teams, and flat command and coordination. The building of a comprehensive emergency rescue team and an emergency management expert team has been strengthened, and the building of a comprehensive disaster prevention, mitigation and relief management team will be strengthened to a certain extent.
Disaster prevention, mitigation and relief talents are the "night watchmen" who monitor the pulse of the earth and the "retrogrades" who walk through the disaster scene. As a "night watchman", we must fulfill our duties and protect life with ingenuity, and as a "retrograde", we must be strong in skills and write with loyalty. Therefore, disaster prevention, mitigation and relief talents not only require obscurity and solid pre-disaster preparations, but also require them to calmly respond to emergencies and dangers, demonstrating the professionalism of the mainstay. Strengthening the cultivation of personnel for disaster prevention, mitigation and relief is the foundation for social stability and the people's living and working in peace and contentment, and is also an inevitable requirement for improving the capacity of disaster prevention, mitigation and relief.
There is still a big gap in the demand for professional and technical personnel for disaster prevention, mitigation and relief in the mainland, and it is urgent to improve the quality and increase the quality and increase the professionalism and professionalism of disaster prevention, mitigation and relief. The training of specialized talents for disaster prevention, mitigation and relief started late, and it is urgent to cultivate applied and practical talents who can adapt to "multiple disasters and major emergencies". In the face of catastrophes caused by extreme natural forces, governments at all levels and society as a whole still lack the technical support of a strong team of professionals. There is a shortage of professional and technical personnel for disaster prevention, mitigation and relief at the grassroots level, which to a certain extent affects and restricts a series of basic and emergency work in disaster prevention, mitigation and relief. At present, in emergency management and related disaster-related departments, as well as grassroots villages and towns, it is urgent to carry out extensive training on the basic knowledge and skills of disaster prevention, mitigation and relief in a short and quick manner, cultivate compound talents in disaster prevention, mitigation and relief, and achieve emergency response, so as to understand emergency response, be able to respond to emergencies, and improve the professionalism and professionalism of disaster prevention, mitigation and relief as soon as possible.
Economy: What is the situation of discipline construction in the mainland in disaster prevention, mitigation and relief?
Jiang Jiyi: The mainland's disaster prevention, mitigation and relief majors started late. Since 2018, with the approval of the Ministry of Education, special undergraduate majors such as disaster prevention and mitigation science and engineering, emergency management, emergency technology and management, and emergency equipment technology and engineering have been added. At present, there are more than 60 colleges and universities applying for the establishment of one or more of the above majors, but the training effect has not yet appeared due to the short opening time and small training scale.
The discipline is a platform for the cultivation of high-level talents. At present, the disciplines related to disaster prevention and mitigation are only the secondary disciplines under civil engineering, disaster prevention and mitigation engineering and protection engineering, which do not cover important fields such as catastrophology, disaster emergency command and rescue, and emergency equipment technology. Disaster prevention and mitigation engineering and protection engineering is a secondary discipline under civil engineering, and there are 96 universities and scientific research institutes with this degree authorization point, including 55 doctoral units, 92 master's degree units, and 51 units with master's and doctoral programs. In 2020, there were 268 doctoral students enrolled in this discipline, with 1,057 students enrolled, and 1,318 master's students enrolled with 3,910 students. This discipline is only concerned with the field of disaster prevention and mitigation in civil engineering.
In addition to the disciplines and majors with keywords such as "disaster reduction" and "disaster prevention", there are also many conventional majors offered by colleges and universities in many industries, which also cultivate talents for disaster prevention, mitigation and relief, mainly involving geophysics, geology (science), mining, civil engineering, water conservancy, meteorology, environmental science and engineering, geography and other disciplines. These universities have set up some disaster-related research directions, such as geological disasters, flood and drought disasters, etc., but they are all non-mainstream disciplines, disaster prevention and mitigation are marginalized, and there is a lack of systematic and continuous scientific research and the ability to cultivate talents.
Innovate the talent training system and establish vocational and technical standards
Economy: As the core base for the cultivation of basic talents for earthquake prevention and disaster reduction in mainland China, what training methods have been adopted by the College of Disaster Prevention Science and Technology, and what qualities of students should be paid more attention to in the teaching process?
Zhou Zhenhai: Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the school is based on the earthquake prevention and disaster reduction industry, integrates disaster prevention, mitigation and emergency management as the soul of campus culture construction and the value goal to pursue, benchmarks the national emergency management system of "all kinds of disasters and major emergencies", adheres to characteristic development, connotation development and innovative development, vigorously cultivates high-quality talents who meet the requirements of the modernization and development of disaster prevention and mitigation education in the new era, and is committed to becoming the core base for the cultivation of basic talents in China's earthquake prevention and disaster reduction and emergency management. Science and Technology Innovation Center, Cultural Radiation Center, Information Exchange Center.
Focusing on the needs of disaster prevention, mitigation and relief, emergency management and economic and social development, the school is based on earthquake disasters, facing geological disasters and radiating natural disasters, and strives to build a professional system composed of core majors with outstanding advantages, support majors with relatively strong strength and expansion majors with obvious characteristics. The discipline system of coordinated development continuously optimizes the structure of disciplines and majors, deepens the reform of talent training mode, and cultivates application-oriented, compound and innovative talents with solid theoretical foundation, strong practical ability, high comprehensive quality, fast environmental adaptation, and lofty ideals and beliefs, strong sense of social responsibility, and active innovation and entrepreneurship ability.
The university has continuously established and improved the circle structure of disciplines and specialties with disaster prevention and mitigation as the core, as well as the talent training model based on this structure. Aiming at the ability demand of future talents for the industry and economic and social development, it has formed a teaching, scientific research, training and management system with distinctive characteristics and outstanding advantages, established a talent training mechanism with the main characteristics of "professional driven, ability-driven, and industry-education linkage" and a ability-oriented innovative talent training model, and promoted the reform and innovation of school-running concepts, training models, team building, evaluation standards and other aspects. After decades of construction and development, it has built a "long, wide and high" talent training system that is "long" in the characteristics of the industry, "wide" in the professional caliber, and "high" in the ability to innovate. Based on the cultivation of wide-caliber applied talents, it connects with the needs of the industry from the multiple levels of teaching content, practical ability and campus culture, and supports the talent training positioning of industry colleges and universities based on the industry and serving the society.
The school adheres to the guidance of industry needs, coordinates industry resources to establish and improve a collaborative education platform, builds an industry-wide cooperative school-running mechanism of "policy guidance, school leadership, and industry coordination", forms a cooperative education model with the school as the main body, the coordination of bureau-affiliated units, and the sharing of human and technical resources, and implements the talent training project of "jointly formulating training goals, jointly building the curriculum system, jointly implementing the training process, and jointly evaluating the training effect". We will continue to further promote the "Action Plan for School-Institute Cooperation", establish and improve the linkage mechanism between the school and the institutes (institutes) affiliated to the bureau, focus on discipline construction, scientific and technological innovation, and talent training, and promote the coordination of discipline construction, scientific and technological innovation, and talent training through the integration of science and education, resource sharing, and complementary advantages, and strive to build a higher-level talent training system, and vigorously cultivate high-quality talents who meet the requirements of the modern development of disaster prevention and mitigation in the new era.
Economy: What are the problems encountered by the College of Disaster Prevention Science and Technology in practical training and subject teaching?
Zhou Zhenhai: Since there are no entry standards and requirements for disaster prevention, mitigation and relief, each school basically relies on the relevant advantageous disciplines and majors of the university to determine the talent training objectives and formulate talent training programs, the training programs and training models are very different, and there are hidden dangers in the quality of training. Organize exchanges and cooperation between colleges and universities and employers, gradually expand the scale of talent training, continuously focus on and condense the basic knowledge, basic skills, ability and quality requirements of disaster prevention, mitigation and relief majors in the process of talent training, and strengthen the integration of science and education and industry-university cooperation.
In December 2016, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council promoted the reform of the system and mechanism of disaster prevention, mitigation and relief, coordinated disaster management and comprehensive disaster reduction, and put forward new requirements for the construction of the discipline system of disaster prevention, mitigation and relief. Cultivate high-level academic talents such as doctors, lead and support basic science and engineering technology research in disaster prevention, mitigation and relief, continue to support the cultivation of applied talents in disaster prevention, mitigation and relief, and support the development of disaster prevention, mitigation and relief.
Pay attention to the rights and interests of rescue personnel, and guide the orderly participation of society
Economy: The disaster emergency rescue profession is highly professional and risky, what aspects should be guaranteed, and what is the current security situation?
Tang Yandong: After the catastrophe and accident, the focus of the state and society is mainly on the victims and the trapped people. For the victims of disasters and accidents, the government, society, and different groups of people will help them through various channels and means. However, with the frequency of disasters and incidents, the number of emergency responders is also increasing. In order to safeguard the interests of the state, the collective, and others, the interests of the emergency and disaster relief personnel cannot be ignored, and it is necessary to provide safeguards in safety, psychology, and legal aspects. The mainland's Emergency Response Law, Earthquake Prevention and Disaster Reduction Law, Regulations on Work-related Injury Insurance, Regulations on Preferential Treatment for Military Pensions, and other laws, regulations, and regulations have made principled provisions on the issue of casualties and assistance for emergency rescue and disaster relief personnel from different legislative purposes and different angles. Due to the influence of the idea of "emphasizing the calming down of the situation and ignoring the aftermath", the safety risks of emergency rescue personnel in the rescue process and how to protect the rights and interests of casualties are often ignored in practice.
"Economy": The social emergency response force is large and wide-ranging, and in most cases it is the first responder to emergency events. In your opinion, how should they be managed, guided and fully utilized?
Tang Yandong: The CPC Central Committee and the State Council have always attached great importance to the development of social emergency response forces. In 2016, when General Secretary Xi Jinping visited Tangshan, Hebei Province, he emphasized that it is necessary to guide social emergency forces to participate in disaster prevention, mitigation and relief work in an orderly manner. The "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Promoting the Reform of the System and Mechanism for Disaster Prevention, Mitigation and Relief" and the "13th Five-Year Plan for the Construction of the National Emergency Response System" clearly put forward that the participation mechanism of social emergency response forces should be improved to support and guide the development of social emergency response forces.
In order to give full play to the role of social emergency response forces in disaster prevention and mitigation and emergency rescue work, it is necessary to further improve policy support, optimize financial guarantees, standardize self-management, and guide orderly rescue.
The first is to improve the policies and systems related to social emergency response forces. Proceeding from the actual situation of emergency management work in the mainland, relevant guiding policies and systems should be promulgated, and the operational guidance, supervision and management of social emergency response forces should be strengthened, and the responsibilities and methods of social emergency response forces participating in emergency rescue should be defined at the institutional level, and social emergency response forces should be guided to devote more energy to daily and community disaster prevention and mitigation work, so as to promote the healthy and orderly development of social emergency response forces.
The second is to establish a coordination mechanism for pivotal social emergency response forces. Promote the establishment of a coordination mechanism for pivotal social emergency response forces in relevant regions, giving full play to the role of the coordination mechanism in organizing, guiding, managing, and serving social emergency response forces;
The third is to optimize the service guarantee of social emergency forces. Improve financial safeguard measures for social emergency response forces, improve government procurement of services and related subsidies and compensation policies, clarify the standards for government procurement of social emergency forces to participate in disaster prevention and mitigation and emergency rescue work, as well as the scope, content and standards of subsidies and compensation for labor, transportation, materials and equipment losses incurred by social emergency response forces in emergency rescue work. Establish an insurance guarantee system for social emergency response forces, fully investigate the insurance needs of social emergency response forces, and work with relevant departments to research and develop emergency rescue and disaster relief insurance products that meet the characteristics of social emergency response forces, and effectively share the risk of emergency rescue and rescue by social emergency response forces.
Fourth, strengthen the self-management of social emergency response forces. Strengthen the construction of the contingent, operational guidance, supervision and inspection, and statistical management of the social emergency response forces, and promote the establishment and improvement of work systems for the social emergency response forces, such as personnel readiness, equipment maintenance, asset management, training and drills, and training and study; guide the social emergency response forces to clarify the responsibilities of key positions, and strengthen the management of the professional backbone personnel of the social emergency response forces; establish a systematic and comprehensive statistical system for the social emergency response forces, dynamically understand and grasp the personnel, equipment, funds, and support of the team, and support the social forces in strengthening their own construction and management work.
Reporter Zhang Junhong