Earthquake prevention and disaster mitigation should be included in comprehensive practical activities in primary and middle schools and public safety education

Is the earthquake coming, is it running or hiding? Is there an earthquake cloud before the earthquake? What are the causes of the earthquake? Although China is a country prone to earthquakes, these common sense of science surrounding earthquakes still confuse many people.

Recently, at the First National Conference on Earthquake Science Popularization held in Tangshan City, Hebei Province, Zheng Guoguang, deputy minister of the Emergency Management Department and director of the China Earthquake Administration, pointed out that when an earthquake comes, ordinary people ’s knowledge of earthquakes, earthquake prevention and disaster mitigation directly determines earthquake prevention The success or failure of disaster reduction work, "At present, the situation of science popularization in China's 'party committee leadership, government responsibility, department collaboration, social participation, and rule of law protection' has gradually formed. However, there are also insufficient scientific innovations in earthquake prevention and disaster reduction, and the level of informatization is not high. Many problems such as weak service ability. "

What is effective seismic science? What lessons do China's earthquake prevention and disaster reduction science need to make up?

Change concept and learn to live with earthquake risk

Every time an earthquake strikes, people will always ask: Why is there no forecast? Today, with the rapid development of science and technology, natural disasters such as typhoons and floods can be effectively forecasted. With the help of satellites and spacecraft, humans can also travel in space. Analyzing the mystery of the universe, why can't you grasp the "life gate" of the earthquake?

In Zheng Guoguang's view, such expectations are still difficult to achieve. "In terms of internal structure, we can think of the earth as an egg. The surface and crust we live in are like eggshells, while the lower mantle and core are like egg whites and egg yolks, in which movement and changes occur all the time. Although humans have mastered the laws of many natural phenomena in the surface and the sky, we still know very little about the 'entry into the ground'. We have not fully understood the internal structure of the 'egg shell', the 'yolk' protein 'It's even more ignorant, how can we master the movements in it-the law of earthquakes? "

In response, Pan Huaiwen, secretary of the Party Committee of China Earthquake Disaster Prevention Center, agreed. "The difficulty of earthquake prediction precisely reflects the limitations of human understanding of natural phenomena. Despite the extremely high expectations of the public, earthquake prediction is difficult to solve in a short period of time. I think that science for earthquake prevention and mitigation should be established first The concept is to let people face this difficulty and learn to coexist with earthquake risks, especially people in our country who are in high-risk areas of earthquakes, should have such a scientific awareness and establish a heart for earthquake prevention in daily life. " Pan Huaiwen said.

So, are scientists completely helpless about the occurrence of earthquakes? No. Wu Zhongliang, director of the Institute of Earthquake Prediction, China Earthquake Administration, uses traffic management as an example: "A city can analyze which location is more prone to traffic accidents and congestion through long-term observation and accumulation of traffic conditions. By the same token, by analyzing the accumulation of seismic data recorded in the past, seismic scientists can generally give the probability of an earthquake occurring in some areas in the next ten years and the possibility of encountering the largest magnitude earthquake in a hundred years, and at the same time calculate The area may be damaged and affected by earthquakes at all levels, and thus put forward strategies to prevent risks, and guide the local construction of earthquake prevention and disaster mitigation capabilities in construction, emergency drills, etc. Although it cannot be specifically predicted whether an earthquake will occur at a certain time and place , But large-scale analysis and judgment are still of great significance for minimizing the risk of earthquake disasters. "

Updating knowledge and popularization of science

"If the time is urgent, the earthquake comes suddenly, and the indoor floors have begun to shake, don't panic, you should quickly hide in the 'Triangle of Life' ..." July 28, in the community earthquake prevention and disaster reduction popularization propaganda speech contest held in Nanjing, this way The knowledge of earthquake prevention and disaster reduction frequently appeared in the lectures of the lecturers. However, this "life triangle" theory has been controversial in recent years at home and abroad.

"This issue has already attracted our attention." Pan Huaiwen introduced that after some sorting, he found that with the development of seismic technology and changes in the social environment, many of the inherent knowledge of earthquake prevention and disaster reduction needs to be updated, and many more are circulating in There is a fallacy in the knowledge of earthquake self-rescue in the new media, which needs to be corrected urgently. "For example, in propagating earthquake prevention knowledge over the years, in addition to telling how to avoid dangers, it also focuses on how to save yourself when buried after the earthquake. However, after nearly ten years of development, most parts of China are especially It is because the earthquake resistance of urban buildings has been significantly improved, and the rural earthquake safety project has also been implemented in rural areas. The possibility of earthquakes leading to the collapse of buildings is greatly reduced. Therefore, the knowledge of self-rescue after being buried is not suitable as a focus for publicity, but should be more Pay attention to the earthquake resistance level of buildings, how to avoid panic jumps when an earthquake occurs, and the knowledge of accurate risk avoidance is more important now. "

Wu Zhongliang also said that the earthquake involved the loss of life, and some minor errors in the popular science may have undesirable consequences. "For example, the concept of epicenter. The epicenter is an area, but many science explanations simplify it to a point, which will mislead people to the concept of the earthquake-stricken area. In the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, people thought that Wenchuan was the hardest-hit area. However, in fact, Wenchuan, Qingchuan, and Beichuan were all epicenters. This led to the second day after the earthquake, the majority of social relief teams and the media focused on Wenchuan, while ignoring several other severely affected areas. Therefore, the earthquake science Must strive for accuracy. "

Enriching the form of science popularization requires the participation of social forces

Earthquake prevention and disaster mitigation should start from the baby. At present, China has incorporated the knowledge of earthquake prevention and disaster reduction into the comprehensive practical activities of primary and middle schools and the content of public safety education. The country has built 493 earthquake prevention and disaster reduction science popularization education bases and 5488 science popularization demonstration schools. The earthquake prevention and disaster reduction science popularization has gradually entered various types of science and technology venues at all levels.

However, in Zheng Guoguang's view, compared with the public's needs for earthquake prevention and disaster reduction, these are still far from enough. "For a long time, China's earthquake prevention and mitigation science work has been dominated by government input and a team of seismic system experts. Although this method has advantages such as strong professionalism, the deficiencies are also obvious. The promotion of earthquake knowledge is not enough. Not enough novelty, and the lack of popularization and popularization of products are all real problems. "

Zheng Guoguang pointed out that on the one hand, the social coverage of earthquake prevention and mitigation science is still relatively small, and many schools are far from enough in the form of "one-year" earthquake emergency drills. On the other hand, the content and methods of popular science are too old. Many experts engage in popular science in the office. The content of popular science is professional and unchanged for many years. It is difficult for the public to like and accept it. "Times are changing with each passing day. A generation has a language and a lifestyle that people like. If the earthquake science is not advancing with the times, changing the way, and enriching the content, it can only be a" hot end ", and poor communication effects will be inevitable." He says.

At this time, social forces have entered a new field of vision to promote earthquake prevention and disaster reduction science popularization. Since 2017, as an earthquake-prone province, Sichuan Province has cooperated with several Internet companies to promote online science popularization, using big data, accurate push, live broadcast, H5 and other Internet products to promote the popularization of information technology, and also introduced virtual reality and augmented reality. The most advanced science technology at the moment. All these bring a refreshing experience for the public to learn the knowledge of earthquake prevention and disaster reduction.

"Our national defense earthquake mitigation science popularization is low in socialization and marketization, and the situation of widespread participation of the whole society has not yet formed. Therefore, in the process of modernization of science popularization, we should widely mobilize social forces to join the cause of science popularization and promote more enterprises and market forces Only when we enter the field of seismic science can we achieve diversification and innovation, and we can produce popular science works that people like to hear. "Zheng Guoguang said.

He pointed out that there are currently more than 2,000 registered social disaster prevention and mitigation enterprises in China, which, if properly guided, will become an important popular science force. How the government can mobilize social forces to carry out scientific popularization activities to the greatest extent and improve the scientific quality of the public will become an important issue that must be done next.