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International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 55 (2021) 102075

The challenges and countermeasures in emergency management after the establishment of the ministry of emergency management of china: A case study

Qian Wu a,*, Jingwen Han a, Changqun Lei a,c, Wei Ding a,d, Bing Li b, Lu Zhang e

a School of Economic and Management, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, China b School of Safety Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, China c National Administration for Work Safety Emergency Response, Beijing, 100713, China d Armed Police Officer Academy Training Base, Guangzhou, 510000, China e School of Engineering and Technology, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing, 100083, China

A R T I C L E I N F O

Keywords: The ministry of emergency management (MEM) Emergency management Public safety Responsibilities Departments

A B S T R A C T

Emergency management is critical for the safety of life and property, as well as the economic and social stability of a country or region. To improve the level of emergency management, China has established the Ministry of Emergency Management of the People’s Republic of China (MEM) in its institutional reform of 2018; however, problems and challenges still remain and must be resolved urgently to fulfill the demand of the public for safety. It is interesting to study as the first major emergency coordination activity the MEM undertook after its for- mation. Therefore, this study takes the bus crash accident in the Wanzhou District, Chongqing, which occurred after the establishment of the MEM, as an example by analyzing the performance and responsibilities of the emergency management departments, the transportation departments, and the public security departments. The problems existing in the rescue process of the MEM are also analyzed. Finally, suggestion on the effective ad- justments to tactics are proposed to provide references for improving the emergency management system in China, respond to accidents effectively, and protect public safety.

1. Introduction

China is a country with frequent natural disasters (e.g., earthquakes, floods) and serious accidents (e.g., traffic accidents, fire accidents) [1]. According to figures released by the United Nations, 8 out of 54 serious disasters and accidents worldwide in recent years occurred in China, approximately accounting for 15% of the world’s total [2]. Due to the statistics from relevant departments, in 2019, China’s natural disasters mainly include floods, typhoons, droughts, earthquakes, and geological disasters. Various natural disasters affected a total of 130 million people, causing the death or disappearance of 909 people and the direct eco- nomic loss of 327.09 billion yuan (approx. $ 50 billion USD) [3]. Ac- cording to the “Global Natural Disaster Assessment Report 2019′′, China’s natural disaster losses ranks in the forefront of the world, and the global rankings of disaster frequency and direct economic losses are 2nd and 3rd respectively [4]. In recent years, emergencies occurred frequently in China, which caused substantial losses to lives, property,

and the natural ecological environment and seriously affected the sta- bility and order of social life. For example, on November 22, 2013, the Oil Pipeline Leak and Explosion Accident caused 62 deaths and a direct economic loss of 750 million yuan (approx. $115million USD) [5]. On August 12, 2015, the explosion accident in Tianjin Binhai New Area caused 165 deaths and a direct economic loss of nearly 7 billion yuan (approx. $1billion USD) [6]. Additionally, the Yushu Snow Disaster in 2019 affected nearly 60,000 people and caused a direct economic loss of 65.48 million yuan (approx. $10million USD) [7]. With the impact of global warming, extreme weather and climate events occur more frequently in China, and the risks of natural disasters such as high temperature, floods, droughts and geological disasters also increase further. Meanwhile, with the rapid development of economic global- ization and urbanization, the accumulation of social wealth, and the increase in population density, various disaster risks are intertwined and superimposed on each other, due to which China is confronted with a more complicated situation in emergency management of natural

* Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (Q. Wu).

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International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102075 Received 18 June 2020; Received in revised form 7 December 2020; Accepted 24 January 2021

International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 55 (2021) 102075

disasters. How to effectively prevent and respond to them has become a major challenge for government emergency management. In terms of accidents, the current situation of safety production situation is stable and improved steadily. However, the safety system is still fragile and the intrinsic safety level is low. For example, coal mines still have many disaster-causing factors, and the safety production accidents will repeat and exist in long term. Hazardous chemicals involve the processes of production, management, transportation, storage, use and waste disposal, which have a high risk of spillover. Once the accident occurs, public safety is often under danger, leading to tremendous impact and loss. The emergency management of such accidents mainly faces the challenge of how to improve the level of production safety and reduce the probability of accidents. In addition, the risks of various disasters and accidents are intertwined and amplified, forming complex and diverse disaster chains and accident chains. This brings emergency management with huge challenges, such as how to deal with the rela- tionship between different departments in the process of emergency rescue, how to coordinate with “prevention” and “rescue” in the con- struction of emergency management system [8–10]. Furthermore, with the state and the public paying increasing attention to safety, the gov- ernment and relevant departments need to enhance their comprehensive ability to manage emergencies, ensuring the safety of public life and property and maintaining social stability.

Additionally, the authorities and scholars have realized that emer- gency management and preparedness are important in limiting the severity of accidental scenarios. For example, Snow pointed out that setting process safety performance indicators and fatigue risk- management systems could prevent catastrophic incidents efficiently [11]. Palazzi E. et al. posited that emergency preparedness was crucial in the emergency handling process by establishing an empirical-based framework which allowed them to identify emergency actions and intervention time, and demonstrated the implementation of these safety measures by analyzing the actual information of the Bhopal gas tragedy [12]. Jain P. et al. greatly affirmed the achievements in the field of process safety and risk management, and constructed a process flexi- bility analysis framework to further explore system risk-management methods and reduce the probability of risk [13]. You Zhibin found that the developed countries gradually took “preparation” as the leading policy in emergency response, and advocated that China should imple- ment “preparation” as the primary strategy for emergency risk preven- tion and control [14].

Hence, based on that background, the 13th National People’s Congress of China in 2018 announced the “Program of Institutional Reform of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China,” which established the Ministry of Emergency Management of the People’s Republic of China (MEM), whose official operation began on April 16 of that year. The purpose of MEM is to prevent and defuse major safety risks, improve the public safety system, integrate and optimize emer- gency forces and resources, and promote the formation of an emergency management system with Chinese characteristics of united command, specialization, sensitivity, interconnectivity, and normal-emergency combining, so as to enhance the country’s capacity for disaster pre- vention, reduction, and relief [15]. The establishment of the MEM is an important milestone in the history of emergency management in China and marks that China has begun to attach importance to comprehensive disaster management that prevention, preparation, response, and re- covery [16]. In addition, the situation should adapt to the requirements of comprehensive disaster prevention, mitigation, and relief [17].

management of four major types of emergencies before and after the establishment of the MEM [18].

In general, the establishment of the MEM is of substantial signifi- cance to further improve China’s emergency management capabilities; however, since it has been established for a short time, problems that must be solved still remain, such as the division of responsibilities be- tween departments. Thus, this paper uses the bus crash accident in Wanzhou District of Chongqing, China, on October 28, 2018 (referred to as the 10.28 Traffic Accident) as an example. It is the first serious traffic safety accident which the MEM has taken the lead in, setting up a ministerial-level working group to analyze the functions of the emer- gency management department as well as other relevant departments in emergency response. This article then further analyzes the problems in the emergency management department and proposes suggestions for improvement. The purpose of this article is to generate discussion and debate from experts, scholars, and relevant government personnel,

Table 1 The main responsible departments of the major emergency scenarios before and after the establishment of the MEM.

Emergency Scenarios The Main Responsible Departments

Before the Establishment of the MEM of the PRC

After the Establishment of the MEM of the PRC

Natural hazards

Earthquake State Council Earthquake Relief Headquarters (China Earthquake Administration)

The MEM of the PRC

Flood, drought National Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters (Ministry of Water Resources of the PRC)

Accidents Production safety accidents

The Production Safety Commission of the State Council (National Administration for Work Safety Emergency Response)

The MEM of the PRC

Fire The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) of the PRC

Forest fire National Forest Fire Prevention Command (National Forest Administration)

Road, railroad, aviation safety accidents

The Ministry of Transport (MT) of the PRC, China Railway, Civil Aviation Administration of China

The MT of the PRC, China Railway, Civil Aviation Administration of China

Nuclear accidents

National Nuclear Emergency Coordination Committee (Commission on Science, Technology, and Industry for National Defense)

Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the PRC

Blackout events

National Energy Administration

Public health events

Infectious disease epidemic situation

National Health and Family Planning Commission of China

National Health Commission of the PRC

Food safety China Food and Drug Administration

State Administration for Market Regulation

Social security incidents

Mass incidents, terrorist attacks

The MPS of the PRC The MPS of the PRC

Financial events

The People’s Bank of China

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provoke deep thoughts about the problems encountered in the devel- opment of the emergency management department, and provide expe- rience and a reference for improving China’s emergency management system and enhancing its emergency management capabilities.

The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. The literature on the Chinese government’s emergency management before and after the establishment of the MEM is reviewed in section 2. Section 3 describes the responsibilities of different departments as they took in the 10.28 Traffic Accident. Section 4 demonstrates the results and discussion. Section 5 presents the conclusion and suggestions for further research.

2. Literature review

Government departments are the main driver in managing emer- gencies. Therefore, scholars focused on governments when researching issues in emergency management, such as government functions, gov- ernment coordination, and cooperation among different government departments. In terms of government functions, Lin pointed out that the emergency office had problems like insufficient power, limited capacity, and a low management level, which made it difficult to coordinate multiple forces in the emergency management process and thus affected it [19]. Some scholars have studied the relationship between structure and function and found that the development of China’s emergency management system had problems, such as the unclear positioning of government emergency management functions, the ambiguity of re- sponsibilities, and the dispersion of related functions [20,21]. And the scholars also proposed to integrate and position function of the emer- gency management from the perspective of the overall national security concept.

In terms of government coordination, some scholars have found that government departments have some problems in crisis management, such as insufficient coordination, imperfect coordination agencies, incomplete coordination frameworks, inefficient dispatching, and inadequate risk-and-cost-sharing mechanisms [22,23]. They have also suggested improving and perfecting the corresponding aspects, to enhance the coordination ability of the government. Lu Yana studied the coordination between the government and the third sector in the emergency response process and pointed out that to effectively manage major emergencies, attention should be paid to the system design of coordinated response between the government and the third sector because the rapid development of the third sector has made its role and subjectivity in the response to major emergencies increasingly obvious [24].

In terms of cooperation between government departments, Wang Weiquan pointed out that ineffective supervision and restraint mecha- nisms in government cooperation made the emergency response effi- ciency inefficient by studying the emergency cooperation process of local governments in China [23]. Wang Wei studied the major influ- encing factors that restricted government cooperation and constructed the basic framework of linkage mechanism of the inter-government cooperation emergency [25]. Yang Long et al. studied the cooperation mechanism and model of local governments and pointed out that different cooperation methods should be adopted for different stages of crisis development [26]. Tao Peng et al. studied the partnership between the Chinese government and social organizations in emergency man- agement and proposed four modes of cooperation, namely, the supple- mentary mode, alternative mode, complementary mode, and alienation mode, and elaborated the construction path of the emergency manage- ment partnership between the government and social organizations [27].

After the MEM established from in 2018, experts and scholars attached substantial importance to it and conducted studies on its sig- nificance and challenges. For example, Zhong Kaibin indicated that the establishment of the MEM marked the beginning of the construction of China’s emergency management system, which was led by a core department and coordinated by all parties. This approach can facilitate

improvements in the emergency management system and promote the establishment of an efficient emergency mechanism with unified com- mand and integration [28]. Han Ziqiang posited that the establishment of the MEM would be conducive to departmental coordination, process optimization, standard unification and the united command of emer- gencies, so as to improve emergency rescue efficiency and the level of emergency management work, and integrate and optimize the emer- gency forces and resources [29]. Additionally, while fully affirming the significance of the establishment of the MEM, some scholars also pointed out the issues that should be paid attention to and strengthened. For example, Wang Hongwei pointed out that the establishment of the MEM was beneficial for the government to formulate a comprehensive emergency plan from a higher perspective, which would help optimize China’s emergency plan system and improve the level of emergency preparedness [30]. Gao Xiaoping pointed out that these two topics required further research: how to prevent the departments from nega- tive dependency after the divestiture of the emergency function, and how to define the relationship between other departments and the MEM [31]. Lei Shangqing posited that how to clarify the division between different internal departments within the MEM and its boundaries with other emergency management departments, and how to reshape the power structure and realize the deep integration of internal institutions are crucial for the further development of the MEM [32]. Shen Xia pointed out that after the establishment of the MEM, China’s emergency management system gradually changed the state from the separation of powers and responsibilities to “integrated coordination”, eliminating the division of the original system; however, the function division within the department and between departments, the power division between central and local governments and the coordination between the MEM and the Ministry of Public Security as well as other departments need be further strengthened [33]. Wang Xuefeng considered that it was necessary to continually establish and improve a coordinated linkage mechanism with complete systems, scientific and standard norms, and effective operation to improve the effectiveness of emergency response [34].

Although some experts and scholars have researched and analyzed the problems and challenges that needed to be resolved urgently after the establishment of the MEM, their analysis is too broad, neither spe- cific nor in depth. This paper intends to analyze the responsibilities of relevant departments in managing emergencies after the establishment of the MEM by studying actual cases, to further ascertain the problems in the division of responsibilities, and provide inspiration for the author- ities and subsequent scholars.

3. Responsibilities of departments—an analysis: a case study of the 10.28 traffic accident

3.1. Brief introduction to the 10.28 traffic accident

At 10:08 on October 28, 2018, on the Second Yangtze River Bridge in the Wanzhou District of Chongqing, a bus crossed the central solid line, collided with a red car and crashed into the river, resulting in 15 deaths and attracting substantial attention [35]. Fig. 1 shows the location of the accident. The government of Chongqing attached great importance to the accident and immediately organized relevant departments such as local public security and maritime affairs, to conduct rescue operations and an accident investigation. The method applied in this study was reviews on the rescue process of the traffic accident and relevant news bulletins and announcements [35,36] (Table 2).

In Table 2, after the 10.28 Traffic Accident, the relevant departments attached substantial importance to it. While actively conducting emer- gency rescue, the causes of the accident were investigated from various aspects.

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3.2. Responsibilities of the departments participating in rescue operations

Table 2 shows that the Chongqing Municipal Government and Wanzhou District Party Committee and Government organized rescue operations immediately after receiving the accident information. They set up the field command to coordinate actions among the local public security bureau, emergency management agencies and other de- partments of maritime, fire, health etc. In addition, the MEM, the Min- istry of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and the Ministry of Transport of the PRC attached substantial importance to the accident. They formed a ministerial-level working group and rushed to the scene to guide and assist local party committees and governments in managing the accident. Fig. 2 shows the relationships, command and control arrangements and information flows between different de- partments in the rescue process. The departments linked by the hori- zontal line are departments at the same level. And the connections between different departments in the same horizontal line indicate that they interact with each other. During the emergency rescue process, they communicate and cooperate by exchanging information, formu- lating plans as well as other ways to jointly complete the emergency rescue task. Vertically, it is superior-subordinate relationship. The su- perior guides and coordinates the work of the subordinates, and the subordinates report to the superiors.

The responsibilities of relevant departments, such as the emergency management sector, the transportation sector, and the public security sector, in the emergency rescue process will be analyzed in the following subsection.

3.2.1. Responsibilities of the emergency management department After receiving the accident report, under the organization of

Chongqing Municipal People’s Government, the Department of Emer- gency Management of Chongqing dispatched the directors and respon- sible persons of relevant departments to the scene and coordinated the salvage and rescue work among the local fire brigade, the Municipal Health Committee, and the salvage team of Zhongshan Ship [37].

The MEM attached considerable importance to the accident. The Secretary of the Party Group immediately contacted the field head- quarters to guide the scene rescue after receiving the accident report. Additionally, a ministerial-level working group, led by the undersecre- tary of the MEM and attended by the Ministry of Transport of the PRC and the Ministry of Public Security of the PRC had been dispatched to provide comprehensive guidance and assistance to the local government

in managing the emergency response and recovery. In the process of this emergency rescue, the local government was

the principle responsible sector, assisted by the ministerial-level work- ing group. Under the organization of the local government, the emer- gency management department, comprising the MEM and the Department of Emergency Management of Chongqing, was responsible for collecting and summarizing rescue data, proposing rescue time nodes, taking the lead in formulating rescue and salvage plan, and coordinating rescue forces on the scene. Additionally, the work of the emergency management department reflected its key responsibilities, namely, constructing emergency forces and integrating material re- serves, dispatching uniformly for disaster relief, organizing the estab- lishment of the disaster relief system, and guiding the emergency rescue for safe production accidents and natural disasters [15]. In addition, the MEM is the main department in emergency response. When responding to the accident, the ministerial-level working group led by the MEM did not take over the tactical response work. Instead, it only represented the central unified response support, reflecting the principle objectives of its hierarchical responsibility.

3.2.2. Responsibilities of the transportation department After receiving the accident report, the Chongqing Traffic Bureau

immediately implemented measures to respond to the accident. First, it initiated the emergency plan and mobilized the water emergency rescue team of Chongqing, the Chongqing Changhang Emergency Rescue Team, and the Zhanhongtu Salvage Company to commence the rescue work [38]. Second, it arranged the Wanzhou Transportation Department to organize relevant vessels and participate in the rescue work, and organized the port administrative departments, like Wushan, Fengjie, and Yunyang, to strengthen the water surface search along the Yangtze River. Third, it directed the bus company and the Wanzhou Trans- portation Department to the investigation of the bus and the driver. Fourth, it opened a special passageway on the highway for the vehicles transporting rescue equipment and materials.

The leaders of the Ministry of Transport of the PRC communicated with the Chongqing Traffic Bureau by video and telephone to get the lasted accident report. Subsequently, the Ministry of Transport of the PRC dispatched an emergency rescue team of 22 professionals to assist with the rescue and salvage work. The emergency office and road network center of the Ministry of Transport of the PRC deployed emergency crews to oversee the highway from Shanghai to Chongqing, to ensure the timely arrival of container trucks carrying rescue

Fig. 1. The location of the accident.

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equipment and materials. This activity guaranteed the high efficiency in the rescue. Furthermore, the Ministry of Transport of the PRC issued a warning notice, requiring the local transportation departments to implement their responsibility for safety supervision, promptly investi- gate the potential safety hazards, urge enterprises to fulfill their main duty of safety production, and take effective measures to resolutely prevent and control major accidents [35].

After the accident, the transportation departments proceeded in an orderly manner according to the rules and regulations already formu- lated, mobilizing emergency rescue teams and equipment to participate in the response, and opening special channels for transporting rescue equipment and materials under the leadership of the local government. The work of the transportation departments was the mirror of its major responsibilities, namely, organizing and participating in the water traffic accident rescue, directing the supervision on local water traffic safety, guiding the safety and emergency management of highway and waterway industries, and monitoring and coordinating the operation of the national highway network [15]. Additionally, the fact that the transportation departments implemented measures under the guidance of the local government reflected that the emergency response to traffic emergencies should be conducted under the leadership of the people’s governments at the corresponding levels [39]. However, in the rescue process of this accident, both the MEM and the Ministry of Transport of the PRC mobilized water rescue teams, duplicating resources which demonstrates an opportunity to improve coordination.

3.2.3. Responsibilities of the public security department After receiving the accident report, the Chongqing Municipal Public

Security Bureau actively participated in rescue under the leadership of the local government. First, the police officers were organized to evac- uate traffic and arrest the driver of the private car which collided with the bus. Second, the Public Security Bureau took act to investigate the reason of the accident, including collecting video clips from surveillance videos and automobile data recorders, recovering the surveillance video before the accident from the automobile data recorder of the bus which was salvaged from the water, and interviewing witnesses and drivers around the scene, passengers who disembarked from the bus in advance, and other relevant personnel. Third, the Public Security Bureau deter- mined and announced the reason and the responsible persons for the accident [36]. The Ministry of Public Security of the PRC dispatched personnel to the scene to participate in the rescue and investigate the reason.

The public security department initiated the accident management procedure and cooperated with the local government as well as other departments to execute emergency rescue operations after receiving the accident report. During the process of the rescue, the traffic manage- ment department of the public security evacuated the traffic, investi- gated the reason and the responsible persons for the accident, and released information on the accident timely. By contrast, the measures that reflected the responsibilities of the public security department included investigating and punishing road traffic violations according to laws, preventing and solving traffic accidents, and maintaining road traffic order and highway security order [15,40]. These practices reduced the probability of rumors and provided safeguards for efficient response to accidents.

4. Results and discussion

4.1. Analysis on the critical issues of emergency management

The 10.28 Traffic Accident is the first serious traffic safety accident in which the MEM plays a leadership role, establishing a ministerial-level working group to manage the crisis. Our analysis demonstrates that the participant departments cooperated well under the command of the MEM, which has improved the timeliness, effectiveness, and profes- sionalism of China’s emergency response. However, since the MEM has

Table 2 Emergency rescue timeline for the 10.28 traffic accident.

Date Time Activity

October 28, 2018

10:08 A bus crashed into the river in Wanzhou District of Chongqing.

10:36 After receiving the information from the government of Wanzhou District, the armed police quickly started the emergency plan, and dispatched a number of boats with professional rescue equipment rushing to the incident waters.

10:45 The troops arrived at the incident waters where the bus crashed into the river and started the rescue work.

13:00 After receiving the report of the accident, the MEM of the PRC immediately connected with the scene to guide the rescue and mobilized rescue forces to support the rescue. The leaders of the MT of the PRC and Chongqing Transportation Bureau connected via video to understand the rescue situation in real time conduct consultation and direct the rescue work constantly.

13:40 CCTV news reported that the bodies of 2 victims had been recovered from the scene.

14:00 According to an announcement by the District Traffic Patrol Detachment the police took the driver of the car that the bus collided with into custody.

14:58 The MEM of the PRC dispatched Chongqing Changhang Emergency Rescue Team and a 40-ton full- rotating floating crane salvage vessel to participate in the search and rescue work.

About 15:00

The location of the bus was basically determined. The water depth reached about 68 m, which made it difficult to rescue, and required the participation of very professional deep-diving personnel and professional equipment.

16:30 Rescue workers of Chongqing Armed Police Corps calibrated the underwater robots and conducted search work.

17:46 The official microblog account of the Wanzhou District Bureau of Chongqing Municipal Public Security Bureau issued a report, indicating that at 10:08a.m. on October 28, a bus carrying more than 10 people crashed into the river after colliding with a car on the bridge of the Second Yangtze River Bridge in Wanzhou, Chongqing. The reason of the accident was under investigation.

October 29, 2018

About 1:00

A 60-ton floating crane of Luqiao Group was waiting for rescue in the accident waters.

6:00 More than 70 rescue ships from Chongqing Changhang Emergency Rescue Team, Shanghai Salvage Bureau of the MT of the PRC, Rams Rescue Team and Blue Sky Rescue Team were on standby in the accident waters.

8:00 The first group of 5 rescue and salvage experts dispatched by Shanghai Salvage Bureau of the MT of the PRC had arrived at the accident rescue headquarters.

11:50 The reinforced large floating crane arrived at the scene of accident to prepare for rescue.

About 12:00

A 45-ton floating crane from Chongqing Changhang Emergency Rescue Team, a 60-ton and a 20-ton floating crane from Wanzhou had arrived at the scene of the accident to prepare for rescue.

14:20 The number of people who lost contact was initially determined to be 15 due to the investigation of the public security organs.

October 30, 2018

10:00 The bodies of 5 victims had been recovered as of 10 o’clock.

15:00 The location of the bus was determined, and the body of the 7th victim had been recovered.

21:17 The automobile data recorder of the bus had been found successfully.

October 31, 2018

0:50 The automobile data recorder of the bus was salvaged from water.

23:30 The bus was salvaged from the water. November 2, 2018 The reason why the bus fell into the river was

announced. The government finally determined the liability of this accident. PICC Insurance formulated a detailed claim plan according to the determination of the accident.

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been established for a relatively short time, the rescue process also exposed some challenges it faced with. Based on the accident rescue process we identified the following issues: (1) The unclear division of functions among the internal departments within the MEM; (2) The duplication of responsibilities between the MEM and other parallel de- partments; (3) Incompleteness of laws and regulations. Each of the issues will be discussed in detail below.

4.1.1. The unclear division of functions among the internal departments within the MEM

During the process of emergency rescue operations for the 10.28 Traffic Accident, the MEM prioritized this process and dispatched a ministerial-level working group headed by the undersecretary of the MEM to the scene to guide and assist the emergency response. However, which internal department was in charge was not mentioned; thus, the internal functions and responsibilities of the MEM have not been clearly divided. According to the investigation, since the establishment of the MEM, working groups have been dispatched to guide local emergency responses, but it fails to mention that which department is mainly in charge. As a newly established organization, the status quo is under- standable, but this situation should not become the norm.

The MEM has integrated the responsibilities for prevention and control of natural disasters and safety accidents that were originally dispersed in 11 departments, such as safety supervision, earthquake management, public security, and firefighting. Different departments had differences in terms of emergency command systems, emergency response processes, disaster response methods, and rules. Therefore, the internal constituent departments, regulations, and tasks of the MEM will be more complicated. Although the composition of internal departments inside the MEM has been basically determined, there remain some issues such as an unclear division of responsibilities and unclear boundaries in the definition of power and responsibility. Additionally, because its in- ternal relationship is in the preliminary stage, the mechanism of the internal relationship will take some time to embed. Thus, it is an important challenge for the central and local emergency management departments to further combine the functional relationship of multi- department, clarify the priorities, reorder, and integrate powers organ- ically according to the requirements of comprehensive emergency management [41].

4.1.2. The duplication of responsibilities between the MEM and other parallel departments

During the emergency response process, the transportation depart- ment mobilized the water emergency rescue team, emergency salvage experts, and other materials and personnel to participate in the rescue. Simultaneously, the MEM deployed the water rescue team and salvage ship to participate in the rescue. We observe that the responsibility be- tween the MEM and other parallel departments was unclear and

partially overlapped, which may waste emergency resources and pro- duce an excessive emergency response. Since the MEM is a new department integrating the responsibilities for prevention and control of natural disasters and safety accidents that were originally dispersed in 11 departments. Thus, the boundary of responsibilities between the MEM and other emergency management departments remains unclear and needs time to change. And this phenomenon caused the duplication of responsibilities among the parallel departments, leading to a waste of resources and management confusion in the emergency management process. In addition, because of the repeated institutions and unclear responsibilities, reported information would be inaccurate, which may jeopardize the emergency decision-making, resulting in an inefficient emergency response. Thus, for the government departments not subject to the management of the MEM, the MEM should clearly define the boundaries of their responsibilities, optimize the resource allocation in emergency rescue, and ensure timely and efficient response.

4.1.3. Incompleteness of laws and regulations The case introduction shows that after the 10.28 Traffic Accident, the

Chongqing Transportation Bureau immediately started the emergency plan to organize and mobilize rescue teams to respond to the accident. However, there is no mention of whether there is a legal basis for the actions of other participating departments, for example, the emergency management department and public security department, in the rescue process. If so, how to conduct the rescue according to the regulations is not mentioned.

China has formulated an emergency management legal system with the Emergency Response Law of the People’s Republic of China as the core, which specifies the disaster response agencies, response stages, and response methods and enables all types of disaster response personnel to complete the sudden processing tasks orderly [42]. Additionally, the state has issued many related laws and regulations on emergency management, such as the Earthquake Disaster Mitigation Act [43]. However, these laws are inadequate. On the one hand, the laws have rather lower legal levels within the entire legal system; on the other hand, the legislation on disaster prevention, response, and rescue is dispersed and mostly exists in the form of single-disaster or sub-industry laws and regulations. Each department conducts rescue work in accor- dance with its plans, and regulations also vary considerably. These problems make it difficult for the existing laws to play an effective role in coordinating and regulating, and fails to fulfill the needs of the increasingly frequent emergencies. Especially since the establishment of the MEM, the existing laws and regulations are not suitable for the duties of the new department any more, because these laws do not stipulate how to coordinate laws and regulations in the comprehensive manage- ment of emergencies. The absence of legal protection often leads to low efficiency and disorder when responding to disasters and accidents. The degree of legislation of emergency management in China urgently needs

Field command (Wanzhou District Party Committee and Government)

The Ministry of Emergency Management of the People�s Republic of China (MEM)

The Ministry of Public Security of the People�s

Republic of China (MPS)

The Ministry of Transport of the People�s Republic of

China (MT)

Emergency Management Agency Maritime Department Fire Department

Chongqing Changhang Emergency Rescue

Team Public Security Bureau Health Department

Guidance and coordination

Command and coordination

Report

Fig. 2. The structure diagram of emergency response.

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improvement, and the operability of laws and regulations also need reinforcement.

4.2. Recommendations on the improvement of emergency management

Based on the analysis of the aforementioned problems, the sugges- tions for how China can improve its emergency management system and mechanism after the establishment of the MEM, are as shown in Table 3. And each of the suggestions will be discussed in detail below.

4.2.1. Clarify the internal responsibilities and power relations The MEM integrates the emergency management responsibilities of

multiple departments. Rainey found that the increasing size of an or- ganization led to an increase in the division of work, which also increased the complexity of management for the organization horizon- tally and vertically [44]. Therefore, how to reassign the responsibilities and internal institutions of these departments, clarify their internal power relations, and provide a foundation for the smooth operation of the emergency management mechanism are the major problems that require resolution.

To achieve that objective, we recommend to implement the following steps. First, clearly divide the powers and responsibilities of each department within the MEM. It is necessary to start with the original scope of responsibilities of the sections included in the MEM, and then compare the responsibilities of different divisions in order to merge and classify the overlapping responsibilities. Second, according to the results of the first step, the MEM should redivide its internal sections and responsibilities considering the status and trend of emergency management in China. Third, the central government should strengthen the internal coordination and departmental harmonization and establish an adaptive emergency operation mode to manage disasters and acci- dents. Additionally, the central government should strengthen the establishment of the internal operation process of emergency manage- ment, such as prevention and preparation, monitoring and early warn- ings, response and recovery etc. and clarify the operations of different

processes to lay the foundation for an efficient emergency response. Fourth, longitudinally, the MEM should reinforce its top-level design to improve the ability of overall coordination ability to respond to emer- gencies and guide the reform of local emergency management in- stitutions by evaluating the effectiveness and adjusting the deficiencies to accelerate the integration of emergency management responsibilities of local governments at all levels; the purpose of this step is to build a scientific and standardized emergency management organization sys- tem, realizing the linkage between the central and local governments.

4.2.2. Improve the emergency management system and mechanisms and strengthen external coordination and cooperation

Emergency management involves many departments. After the establishment of the MEM, most of the emergency functions have been incorporated into it. Thompson posited that organizations were always embedded in a larger action system, and some of its components would necessarily be interdependent on institutions that are not affiliated with this organization, and these institutions are not subject to this organi- zation [45]. Therefore, in the process of emergency management, how to coordinate and cooperate with other departments that have shifted the emergency functions and how to handle the relationship among them need to be resolved.

Therefore, the central government should improve its emergency management system and mechanisms and strengthen external coordi- nation and cooperation. First, they must clarify the principle of the di- vision of emergency management responsibilities of government departments and define the responsibilities of the emergency manage- ment ministry (bureau, office) and other government departments. Next, the government should determine the leading and supporting units of different types of emergencies to optimize the emergency management system and resource configuration, and strengthen the cooperation among departments. Third, the government must pay attention to the relationship between the new emergency management ministry (bu- reau, office) and other existing organizations. The MEM could establish a cooperation mechanism with the health, public security, meteorolog- ical, and other departments to strengthen the coordination and coop- eration with different departments. For example, during the emergency rescue process, the meteorological department would provide weather services to the emergency management ministry (bureau, office), and the public security department would be responsible for maintaining social order, which may make the rescue process more effective. Fourth, the government should accelerate the construction of a data-sharing platform of different departments for disaster prevention, mitigation, and relief to break the data barriers and improve the information- sharing mechanism, so as to ensure emergency management efficiency.

4.2.3. Improve the legal system of emergency management The scholars have also posited that relevant laws and regulations are

important in emergency management. For example, Lydia R. and Mccreight R. by studying some of the applicable laws and regulations affecting emergency management in the United States, put forward that the laws were critical to emergency management and that timely review and revision can improve the efficiency of emergency response [46]. Zhu and Wu pointed out that an appropriate revision of the emergency management legal system was the focus of the current deepening of the emergency management system reform in China [41]. Thus, China’s government should further improve the legal system and standard construction of emergency management to provide a legal guarantee for emergency management.

The following methods are recommended to improving the legal system. First, the relevant legal departments should promote the process of formulating and revising the emergency management laws, regula- tions, and rules to strengthen the authority of emergency management laws. Additionally, the government should facilitate the construction of emergency plans and standard systems to build a complete, scientific, and standardized legal system of emergency management. For example,

Table 3 Recommendations on the improvement of emergency management.

Recommendations Specific Measures

Clarify the internal responsibilities and power relations

● Clearly divide the powers and responsibilities of each department within the MEM

● Redivide the internal sections and responsibilities

● Strengthen the coordination and establish an adaptive emergency operation mode

● Reinforce its top-level design Improve the emergency management

system and mechanisms and strengthen external coordination and cooperation

● Clarify the principle of the division of emergency management responsibilities

● Determine the leading and supporting units of different types of emergencies

● Pay attention to the relationship between the new emergency management ministry (bureau, office) and other existing organizations

● Construct a data-sharing platform of different departments

Improve the legal system of emergency management

● Strengthen the authority of emergency management laws

● Revise “the national overall emergency plan”

● Prepare documents related to disaster management and conduct training in local government

● Amend the relevant laws and regulations regularly

● Enhance the exercise of the emergency plan

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International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 55 (2021) 102075

they should revise the “Emergency Response Act of People’s Republic of China” to clearly stipulate the responsibilities of the MEM and clarify the rights, duties, and obligations of the central government, departments, society, enterprises, and citizens. They should also perfect the estab- lishment of the supporting laws and regulations by improving, for example, the Emergency Response Act of People’s Republic of China. Second, the MEM should revise “the national overall emergency plan” on the basis of departmental responsibilities to improve the scientificity, standardization, and operability of the plan. The plan should define the rights and obligations of each legal subject in detail and provide a reference for the preparation of various disaster emergency plans. Third, local emergency management departments should actively prepare documents related to disaster management, such as local emergency management regulations, rules, and standards, to improve local gov- ernments’ understanding on the emergency response law of the Emer- gency Response Act of the PRC. Besides, targeted organizational training should be conducted to clarify the response conditions and specific ac- tions, strengthen the understanding on relevant provisions of emergency management personnel, and comprehensively improve the operability of the plan. Fourth, the relevant laws and regulations especially emer- gency plans should be amended regularly to fulfill the needs of social development. Lydia R. and others strongly urged that regular dialogues should be held between two distinctly different offices to clarify issues and varying perspectives on matters that affect local government [46]. Thus, in the process of revising emergency plans, the government should listen to the opinions of experts, scholars, social workers, etc. to improve its scientificity and standardization. Finally, it must enhance the exercise of the emergency plan to improve its operability in an emergency response.

5. Conclusions

Unconventional emergencies inevitably lead to enormous economic losses and human casualties. The concurrency and compound effects of emergencies are increasing. Therefore, strengthening cross- departmental and cross-regional comprehensive coordination has become an important task of emergency management. The establish- ment of the MEM has built a new model for Chinese emergency man- agement. However, its establishment cannot immediately resolve all the existing problems in China’s emergency management. In this paper, the major aims are to analyze the problems and challenges of the MEM and propose solutions. Additionally, case analysis and empirical research are adopted to study the problem.

The major conclusions are as follows: (1) The paper analyzes the responsibilities of participant departments in The 10.28 Traffic Accident including the emergency management department, the transportation department, and the public security department, and the performance of different departments. (2) Through its analysis on the accident rescue process, the paper highlights the problems and challenges in emergency management, for example, unclear division of functions among internal departments within the MEM, duplication of responsibilities between the MEM and other parallel departments, and incompleteness of laws and regulations. (3) The measures to improve the emergency manage- ment ability of government are proposed, including clarifying the in- ternal responsibilities and power relations, improving the emergency management system and mechanisms and strengthen external coordi- nation and cooperation, and improving the legal system and standard construction of emergency management.

This work would be helpful for governments at all levels of emer- gency management. The problems and challenges analyzed in the paper provide the emergency managers with experience in the process of institutional reform and integration. Moreover, the emergency man- agers could avoid the problems mentioned in the article by speeding up the establishment of agencies such as emergency management offices and bureaus. However, the major limitations of this study are as follows: the selection of cases is relatively single and cannot fully summarize all

the problems that existed after the establishment of the MEM, and the policy recommendations require further improvement. Thus, in further research, a more detailed research method should be applied to the problems and challenges existed after the establishment of the MEM. Quantitative research is also necessary to further validate the results to promote the establishment of the new emergency management system and mechanism to fulfill the need for safety.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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