Seven cities of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Guangdong province, and Hainan province signed a framework agreement on cross-regional emergency cooperation in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province on Nov 29.

In the future, the seven cities, namely Beihai, Fangchenggang, Qinzhou, Yulin, Maoming, Zhanjiang, and Haikou, will focus on the prevention and response to public emergencies like natural disasters, accident disasters, and other sudden public emergency events.

According to the agreement, the seven cities will establish an emergency information reporting system enabling other parties to give information support and suggestions to the place where an accident happens. All parties will provide corresponding support in terms of emergency experts, rescue teams, equipment, and materials when necessary. In addition, a joint handling mechanism of two or more parties will be activated as soon as possible, strengthening the communication and negotiation of follow-up affairs when an emergency occurs at the junction of the cities.

In addition, targeted joint emergency drills will be organized for emergencies like fire, floods, geological disasters, marine disasters, safety accidents at sea, and leakages of hazardous chemicals that may occur in the border area of the seven cities. Unilateral large-scale emergency drills should invite other cities to observe and share the results of the drills.

According to Cheng Jin, director of the Zhanjiang emergency management bureau, the establishment of the emergency linkage system aims to improve the ability to prevent and deal with emergencies like natural disasters and accidents. The seven signing cities are intersection areas along China's coast and borders that have an important strategic position in the overall pattern of China-ASEAN cooperation.