After a year in which China was battered by typhoons and plagued
with drought, a new profession -- disaster information consultants
-- has been added to China's list of professions, according to the
Ministry of Labor and Social Security.
"China has been hit by a series of natural disasters in the last
few years, causing huge losses. Disaster information consultants
will strengthen grass-roots reporting of and response to natural
disasters. They will help us build a village-level natural disaster
reporting system which can collect and analyze disaster
information," said a ministry spokesman.
In 2006 China witnessed typhoons, floods, droughts, winds and
hail, earthquakes, snow and marine disasters, landslides, mud-rock
flows, plant diseases and insect pests.
Natural disasters across China killed 3,186 people in 2006,
causing direct losses of 253 billion yuan (US$35 billion), the most
serious in eight years.
The government spent 11 billion yuan on disaster relief in 2006
and civil donations totaled 3.6 billion yuan.
The ministry has updated its list of newly-emerging occupations
to include ten new professions. Besides disaster information
consultants, other new professions include exhibition designer,
sign language interpreter, quality inspectors of synthetic
materials, interior designers and care worker for orphans and
disabled children.
This is the eighth time China has added new occupations to the
standard occupation list, bringing the number of new occupations to
84 since the list was started in 2004.
(Xinhua News Agency January 15, 2007)