China Releases Geological Disaster Prevention Plan, Targeting 4,200 Treatments and 50,000 Relocations

The Ministry of Natural Resources on August 4 released the National Geological Disaster Prevention Implementation Plan for the 15th Five-Year Plan period, which identifies enhancing climate change risk response capacity as the central theme, improves the efficient and scientific geological disaster prevention system, and comprehensively strengthens grassroots capacity to withstand geological disasters. The plan deploys three initiatives: a dynamic survey project for disaster sites and risk zones, a monitoring and early warning capacity enhancement project, and a comprehensive treatment capacity enhancement project. It implements dual-control management of disaster points plus risk zones, strengthens innovation in geological disaster prevention theory and technical methods, and builds a one-map geological disaster prevention sub-scenario.

The plan states that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the comprehensive treatment capacity enhancement project will be implemented, with engineering treatment of more than 4,200 geological disaster sites, hazard removal at more than 6,100 sites, and relocation of 50,000 households from disaster-prone areas. On source control, nationwide updates to identify high and medium susceptibility zones will be completed twice annually, 1:10,000 fine-scale surveys will be conducted in key towns within extremely high and high-risk zones, and dynamic surveys of land subsidence and ground fissures will continue in groundwater over-extraction areas, major urban clusters, major engineering zones, and densely populated areas. On monitoring and early warning, monitoring stations will be densified in key regions including the Wumeng Mountain area and northern China, sustained three-dimensional monitoring of land subsidence in key areas across 19 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) will continue, and exploratory county-level short-term and imminent geological disaster meteorological risk warnings will be developed.

The plan designates 21 key geological disaster prevention zones nationwide for the 15th Five-Year Plan period. Among these, 17 key prevention zones cover landslides, collapses, debris flows, and ground collapse, with a total area of approximately 2.97 million square kilometers, while 4 key prevention zones cover land subsidence and ground fissures, with a total area of approximately 280,000 square kilometers. The plan refines the key prevention zones for the southeastern hills and southwestern mountainous regions, and adds new key prevention areas including the Yaxi hydropower project, high-altitude long-distance geological disaster chains, and the Yanshan-Taihang Mountains. Dual-control management of disaster points plus risk zones will be fully implemented in 1,206 key and secondary key prevention counties (cities and districts) across 17 key provinces, with control lists for disaster points and risk zones established and a risk control responsibility system implemented.

On technical means, the plan proposes exploring the use of aerospace remote sensing technology to identify and monitor geological disaster risks, and leveraging artificial intelligence, digital twin, and other technologies to improve the accuracy of hazard identification and disaster warning. As of the end of 2025, more than 270,000 geological disaster sites were registered nationwide, posing a potential threat to more than 11 million people.

In July 2026, a flash flood triggered by heavy rainfall struck the Shuangshimen scenic area in Wuyuan County, Dingxi City, Gansu Province, killing 25 people and injuring 23. In the same month, a mountain collapse in Pengshui County, Chongqing, killed 51 people, with 10 others still missing.