By Song Xiongwei, associate Professor, department of politics, China National School of Administration；comic drawn by Chi Ying
 
On the 40th anniversary of the Tangshan Earthquake, Chinese President Xi Jinping made an inspection tour in Tangshan, Hebei Province, north China.

Xi said disaster prevention and relief efforts are essential to public safety and property, to enhance social harmony and stability, serving as a significant aspect for the ruling party's leadership, examining government's executive capability, evaluating the country's mobilization ability and embodying national cohesion.

He urged the public to manage the relationship with nature, in order to handle disaster prevention and relief work along with social and economic development.

It's time to fulfill our responsibilities, upgrade the system, integrate resources, and make overall planning to improve social consciousness on disaster prevention and resilience and to upgrade the country's disaster prevention and relief capabilities.

Forty years ago, a devastating earthquake destroyed Tangshan city, however the Tangshan people took part in immediate relief work with an indomitable spirit to reconstruct the city. They created a miracle in the struggling history of Chinese nation, which reflected the leadership of the Communist Party of China and superiority of socialist system, and injected a new spirit of the times for Chinese culture.

It is an eternal task for human beings to fight against natural disasters. We need to strengthen the organizational leadership, improve regulations, promote construction of significant disaster prevention and reduction projects, guide the orderly participation of social forces to enhance the whole society's capability to respond to natural disasters.
 
As Xi said, if the Party can unite the people and count on the people, we can stand various tests to overcome challenges.

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