A national disaster relief material storage base in Chengdu, Sichuan province, is ready to respond to disasters as they happen, said Jiang Bo, the facility head. The base, which was completed in 2011, is one of 17 throughout China.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs invested 241 million yuan ($39.4 million) to build the base, which occupies about 10.5 hectares of land.

The facility provides a storage capacity of 37,000 cubic meters. It also has a field of 20,000 square meters for use as a parking apron for helicopters.

The storage capacity - which can hold 54,100 tents, 108,300 quilts, 216,500 sets of cotton-padded clothes, inflatable dinghies, life buoys, generators and diggers - can meet the emergency needs of 216,500 people.

It can also be used as temporary shelter for about 866,000 people.

Jiang said the base can transport relief materials from storage in less than 30 minutes after a disaster happens.

The reserve base is located near the Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport, neighboring local major logistic companies and universities.

"We have a good partnership with them," he said. "Students from universities serve as volunteers when needed and logistic companies can be in charge of transporting goods."

After Ya'an, a city in Sichuan, was hit by an earthquake on April 20, more than 100 shipping containers of goods were transported from the base to disaster sites every day, he said. The base sent more than 50,000 beds and 20,000 tents to people affected by the Ya'an earthquake.

- Yang Yao

(China Daily USA 10/14/2013 page3)