Relief drill held in western China's Wenchuan to observe 17th Disaster Prevention and Reduction Day

Wenchuan County in western China's Sichuan Province, which shocked the country with its devastating 7.9 magnitude earthquake in 2008, conducted a comprehensive 2025 flood control and disaster reduction drill on Monday, marking the 17th National Disaster Prevention and Reduction Day in the country.

Since 2009, China observes the National Disaster Prevention and Reduction Day on May 12, which commemorates the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake that left more than 80,000 people dead or missing.

The Monday exercise in Wenchuan simulated emergency response to torrential rain-triggered mudslides, showcasing cutting-edge technologies to strengthen disaster resilience under the year's theme, "Safety for All, Emergency Preparedness for Everyone."

The Wenchuan County government organized the drill, recreating catastrophic scenarios, including road blockages, power outages, and personnel stranding caused by hypothetical mudslides at several locations in Yingxiu Town.

Personnel from several departments, from emergency management and meteorology to power supply agencies, collaborated to execute 16 practical tasks across two phases: early storm warning and mass evacuation, followed by on-site emergency response.

Several key technological innovations were highlighted in the drill. Robotic "rescue dog" were seen to be delivering essential supplies to cut-off areas, while millimeter-wave radar life detectors pinpointed trapped individuals through debris.

Drones with 3D modeling mapped disaster zones within minutes while mobile meteorological radar updated rainfall data every six minutes, enabling real-time decision-making.

"Over the past few years, we introduced a series of quality high-tech equipment which has not only saved us manpower but also improved the rescue efficiency," said Deng Tiancai, a firefighter at Wenchuan County Fire and Rescue Brigade.

The exercise also demonstrated breakthroughs in integrated air-space-ground monitoring, intelligent life rescue systems, and digital civilian support platforms.

Relief drill held in western China's Wenchuan to observe 17th Disaster Prevention and Reduction Day

More than 1,000 coal mines in China have adopted intelligent systems, as their application expands from pilot projects to large-scale deployment, the China National Coal Association said recently.

Statistics show that by the end of 2025, a total of 1,066 coal mines nationwide have introduced smart systems, with such technologies now supporting more than 65 percent of the country's coal production capacity. The number of autonomous mining trucks in operation surpassed 4,000 units, roughly doubling on an annual basis.

The rapid adoption of smart mining is driven by robust domestic capabilities in intelligent equipment and technology. In Beijing, a newly deployed underground Internet of Things (IoT) precision positioning and management system links workers, positioning cards and operating zones, while also enabling health monitoring. Its core technologies and components are fully domestically developed and have been applied in coal mines and coal preparation plants. "This underground positioning system we've developed has a positioning deviation of less than 20 centimeters when a person or device is stationary. Even when a person or device is moving at high speeds, the margin of error remains minimal. A single device can cover a radius of 800 meters," said Wu Fengdong, general manager of China Coal Beijing Coal Mining Machinery Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the state-owned China National Coal Group Corporation.

Since the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021–2025), cumulative investment in smart mining has exceeded 107.1 billion yuan (about 15.6 billion U.S. dollars), with intelligent technologies now widely applied, accelerating the shift from traditional mining to modern, technology-driven extraction.

Over 60 pct of China's coal production capacity uses smart technology by end of 2025