Call for improved disaster warnings

The State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) has proposed immediate reporting requirements for environmental accidents so it can better inform the public of impending disasters, the South China Morning Post reported. Under the proposed system, departments and people responsible for supervision would be required to report environmental accidents to local government and relevant provincial departments within an hour. SEPA received 45 reports of environmental accidents between November 13, when a toxic spill in the Songhua River started to affect water supplies in the northeast, and February 1.