BEIJING -The government branch that deals closely with earthquakes plans to spend 67 percent of this year's budget on monitoring, analysis, damage prevention, and emergency rescues, according to a report made public on Saturday.

The China Earthquake Administration (CEA), which falls under State Council control, said that expenditures will go to earthquake-related operations and amount to 1.96 billion yuan ($297 million) in 2011, up nearly 570 million yuan from last year, .

Other expenditures within the administration's 2.91-billion-yuan overall budget include post-quake rebuilding, scientific and technological research, and education, with the bulk of that coming from the central government.

As of Sunday, the CEA was the first among all central government departments to have published its budget plan for this year.

The CEA administers all quake-related works in China with 46 offices nationwide and 21,500 employees and retirees. It is currently surveying the active faults underlying cities to avoid hazards to buildings, Xu Xiwei, a researcher at its Institute of Geology, said on Saturday.

Chongqing, the southwestern Chinese municipality, is a part of the geological survey to evaluate possible quake hazards, said Xu. In North China's Hebei province, the works are also under way in 11 cities.

From June 2004 to April 2008, Xu headed a research program looking at active faults and related hazards in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and more than two-dozen other cities to clarify their status

The program investigated major faults located in these cities and neighboring areas, and clarified their current status.

They were able to rule out 80 faults as possible sources of earthquake damage to buildings built on top of them, said Xu.

The CEA plans to identify all major active quake zones in China by 2020.

Earthquakes are a constant threat to China, which has at least 495 quake-prone areas, according to Xu.

Quake damage could be reduced if China can identify the rupture zones more clearly, he concluded.

China Daily

(China Daily 03/21/2011 page5)