Xi calls for improving disaster prevention as floods, landslides batter China

BEIJING – Chinese President Xi Jinping called for improving the country’s ability to prevent, mitigate and respond to natural disasters, after a string of deadly floods and landslides this summer. Xi’s remarks, published on Aug 15 in Qiushi, a journal central to Communist Party messaging, follow China’s strongest typhoon in 2026 and a series of landslides that killed dozens, underscoring the growing toll of extreme weather on the world’s second-largest economy. “As global warming continues, extreme weather events and disasters such as torrential rains, floods, typhoons, and droughts are increasing significantly, exacerbating their destructive impact,” Xi said, according to the…