Chapter IV

Emergency Handling and Rescue

Article 48 After an emergency occurs, the people’s government that performs the duty of unified leadership or organizes the handling of the emergency shall, in light of the nature, characteristics and degree of damage of the emergency, immediately organize the relevant departments, deploy the emergency rescue teams and people from different sectors of the society, and take measures for handling the emergency in accordance with the provisions in this Chapter and the provisions of the relevant laws, administrative regulations and rules.

Article 49 After a natural disaster, calamitous accident or public health incident occurs, the people’s government performing the duty of unified leadership may take one or more of the following measures for handling the emergency:

(1) organizing the rescue and treatment of victims, dispersing and evacuating persons exposed to danger and having them properly resettled, or taking other measures to help them;

(2) promptly keeping the source of danger under control, clearly marking the endangered areas, blockading the endangered places, demarcating the security areas, exercising traffic control, and taking other control measures;

(3) immediately doing rush repairs of such damaged public facilities as the ones for transportation, communications, water supply, drainage, power supply, gas supply and heat supply, providing the victims with shelters and daily necessities, and giving them first aid, and taking sanitation and anti-epidemic measures and other safeguard measures;

(4) prohibiting or restricting the use of the relevant equipment and facilities, closing or restricting the use of related places, suspending the activities which draw a high density of people or the production or business activities which may lead to increased scale of damage, and taking other protective measures;

(5) bringing into use the fiscal reserve funds set aside and the emergency rescue materials reserved by the said people’s government and, when necessary, appropriating other materials, equipment, facilities and instruments which are urgently needed;

(6) organizing citizens to participate in emergency rescue and handling, and requiring the ones with given specialties to provide services;

(7) guaranteeing the supply of food, drinking water, fuels and other basic daily necessities;

(8) in accordance with law, imposing severe punishment on persons who disrupt market order by hoarding and cornering, forcing up prices, making and selling counterfeit goods, etc., to stabilize market prices and maintain market order;

(9) in accordance with law, imposing severe punishment on persons who disrupt public order by looting, and interfering with and sabotaging emergency handling, etc., to maintain public security; and

(10) taking necessary measures for preventing the occurrence of secondary and derivative incidents.

Article 50 After a social safety incident occurs, the people’s government responsible for organizing the handling of the emergency shall immediately mobilize the relevant departments, and the public security organs shall, in light of the nature and characteristics of the incident and in accordance with the relevant law, administrative regulations and other relevant regulations of the State, take one or more of the following measures for handling the emergency:

(1) compulsorily keeping apart the parties that fight each other with tools or participate in conflicts with violence, properly resolving the disputes and controversies on the spot, and taking control of the development of the situation;

(2) taking control of the buildings, means of transportation, equipment and facilities and the supply of fuels, gas, power and water in a given area;

(3) blockading the related places and roads, examining the identity certificates of the persons at the scene, and restricting the activities held in the related public places;

(4) keeping close guard of the key organs and units which are vulnerable to attack, and posting temporary security cordons around such units as the State organs, military organs, State news agencies, radio and TV broadcasting stations, and foreign embassies and consulates in China; and

(5) taking other necessary measures as specified by laws and administrative regulations and by the State Council.

When an incident seriously endangering public security occurs, the public security organs shall immediately send out policemen and, in light of the situation at the scene, take the appropriate compulsory measures according to law to restore social order as soon as possible.

Article 51 Where the occurrence of an emergency seriously affects the normal operation of the national economy, the State Council or the relevant competent departments authorized by the State Council may take safeguard and controlling measures and other necessary emergency measures, to guarantee the basic daily necessities of the people and mitigate the effects of the emergency to the maximum extent.

Article 52 The people’s government performing the duty of unified leadership or being responsible for organizing the handling of an emergency may, when necessary, expropriate from units or individuals equipment, facilities, premises, means of transportation and other materials needed for emergency rescue, request other local people’s governments to support them with human, material or financial resources or technologies, require the enterprises that produce or supply daily necessities and materials for emergency rescue to organize production and ensure supply, and require the organizations that provide medical services, transportation and other public services to do so.

The people’s government performing the duty of unified leadership or being responsible for organizing the handling of an emergency shall organize and coordinate the units engaged in transportation, to give priority to the transportation of the materials, equipment, and instruments needed for emergency handling, the emergency rescue persons and victims of the emergency.

Article 53 The people’s government performing the duty of unified leadership or being responsible for organizing the handling of an emergency shall, according to the relevant regulations, publish uniform, accurate and timely information on the development and handling of the emergency.

Article 54 No unit or individual shall fabricate or disseminate false information on the development or handling of an emergency.

Article 55 The residents’ committees, villagers’ committees and other organizations in the place where an emergency occurs shall, according to the decisions and orders of the local people’s government, conduct publicity and mobilization, organize the people to rescue themselves and eath other, and help maintain social order.

Article 56 The unit that suffers natural disaster or in which a calamitous accident or public health incident occurs shall immediately mobilize its own rescue teams and staff members to rescue the victims, disperse and evacuate the persons endangered and have them resettled, take control of the sources of danger, clearly mark the endangered areas, blockade the endangered premises, and take other necessary measures for preventing the expansion of the scale of damage, and at the same time, it shall report the matter to the local people’ government at the county level; if a social safety incident is caused by the problem of the unit itself or if its own staff members constitute the main participants in the incident, the said unit shall, according to relevant regulations, report the matter to the authority at a higher level and promptly send its leading persons to rush to the scene and conduct persuasion and mediation.

The other units in the place where an emergency occurs shall obey the decisions and orders issued by the people’s government, cooperate with the people’s government in implementing the measures it adopts for handling the emergency, do a good job of self-rescue and proactively organizing persons to participate in emergency rescue and handling in the place where they are located.

Article 57 Citizens in the place where an emergency occurs shall follow the direction and arrangements of the people’s government, residents’ committees, villagers’ committees or the units to which they belong, cooperate with the people’s government in implementing the measures it adopts for handling the emergency, proactively participate in emergency rescue and help maintain social order.