Respect scientific research and scientific disaster relief and reduction——Interview with Professor Chen Yinxiang, a Chinese disaster expert

Chu Zhiyuan

Disasters are one of the most serious problems facing human existence. Annual disaster losses around the world are as high as US$500 billion, equivalent to the world's annual military expenditure. my country's annual disaster losses are as high as 50 billion yuan. Therefore, research and prevention of disasters have become one of the most urgent issues for mankind.

This year is the "International Year for Disaster Reduction". The author interviewed Professor Chen Yinxiang, a Chinese disaster expert, and asked him to talk about this situation.

Professor Chen Yinxiang is the chief engineer of the Geological Remote Sensing Center of the Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources. He also serves as the vice chairman of the Environmental Remote Sensing Branch of the Chinese Geographical Society, deputy director of the China Remote Sensing Geology Professional Committee, and a part-time professor at China University of Geosciences. In 1953, he graduated from the Department of Geology and Mineral Resources of Beijing Institute of Geology and later studied in the Soviet Union. After returning to China in 1957, he concentrated on the research of geological remote sensing, made outstanding achievements in the fields of geological development and expanded application of remote sensing information, and enjoyed a certain reputation in domestic and foreign academic circles. Since 1985, he began to devote himself to the research of disaster issues and became one of the founders of disaster science in my country.

As soon as we met, Professor Chen got straight to the point. "In a sense, the history of human civilization for thousands of years is a history of fighting against various disasters." He said that most of the peasant wars in the past generations were caused by natural disasters. This can be explained. Natural disasters have an important impact on human society and play an important role in controlling the rise and fall of the times.

When talking about the types and hazards of disasters, Professor Chen told the author that disasters can be divided into two categories: natural disasters and social disasters. Natural disasters include astronomical disasters (meteor strikes, asteroid collisions, strong particle flows, gravitational changes, electromagnetic explosions, ozone layer destruction, etc.), geological disasters (earthquakes, landslides, mudslides, volcanic eruptions, ground subsidence, land desertification, etc.), meteorological disasters Hydrological disasters (ultra-low temperatures, extremely high temperatures, droughts, floods, wind disasters, etc.) and biological disasters (ecological mutations, locust plagues, diseases, etc.). Social disasters include industrial disasters (such as factory accidents, air pollution, etc.), traffic accidents, wars and crimes, etc. Disasters are accompanying phenomena of various material movements in the earth's ecosystem. During geological movements, many global, regional and local disasters and extinctions have occurred in the biological world. Since humans appeared on the earth, these disasters have occurred almost continuously with the development of human history. Numerous records of tragic disasters have been left in the vast historical documents of various regions and countries in the world: The medieval volcanic eruption destroyed Pompeii, Italy. ; On June 30, 1908, the "Tunguska Explosion" caused by natural causes in central Siberia, the Soviet Union, caused abnormal weather in Europe for several years; the total annual losses from fires, coastal disasters, landslides, earthquakes, and volcanic disasters in the United States amounted to 3.5 billion to 4 billion US dollars; 2,645,500 people died in the 28 major earthquakes in the Asia-Pacific region in the past 800 years, and the economic losses reached 132.5 billion US dollars. In the history of our country, disasters have also been frequent. For example, the 1556 Huaxian earthquake in Shaanxi Province killed more than 830,000 people; the 1920 Ningxia earthquake killed 180,000 people; the 1976 Tangshan earthquake killed hundreds of thousands of people; and the 1985 snow disaster in southern Qinghai killed hundreds of thousands of livestock. etc. There are countless disasters, big and small. In addition, 5 billion tons of sediment flows from land into the sea every year in my country, and the total amount of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium lost is equal to the total output of chemical fertilizers produced in my country every year. Professor Chen also said that there are at least 3 billion to 4 billion rats in our country, and their reproductive capabilities are extremely strong. The food eaten by them every year is equivalent to a month's rations for 1 billion people in the country.

“Since there are so many types of disasters and the harm is so great, how should humans deal with them?”

Professor Chen expressed his views. He said: “The most important thing is, It is necessary to pay attention to science and study science.” “Throughout ancient and modern disasters, although there are many types, they are not isolated and irregular incidents, but have a strong geothermal dynamic background, clusters in space, and series in time series. Disaster events in history often occur in series, such as severe droughts, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, heavy rains, epidemics, and wars and migrations, forming a chain of disasters whose overall root cause is the vertical heat of the earth under the influence of astronomical movements. Dynamic strong disaster chain activities. Therefore, it is necessary to study astronomy, geography, geology, thermodynamics, meteorology, hydrology and other sciences."

Professor Chen told the author that our country is very concerned about disaster issues. The proposal and research are at the forefront of the world, and relevant national departments attach great importance to this issue. In September 1986, the first "Academic Symposium on Disaster Economics" was held to study disaster issues from the perspective of economic development. In November 1986, the National Association for Science and Technology organized 11 societies including geology, seismology, astronomy, meteorology, space, rock and mineral geochemistry, paleontology, geophysics, oceanography, water conservancy and geography, and jointly held the "Astronomy, Geology and "Biology" conference discussed the relationship between man and the biosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere. Famous scientists such as Qian Xuesen and He Zehui attended the conference. After the United Nations' "International Ten-Year Plan for Natural Disaster Reduction" was published in 1989, my country established the China International Ten-Year Committee for Natural Disaster Reduction, with Vice Premier Tian Jiyun as the committee director and Minister of Civil Affairs Cui Naifu as the deputy director to organize and coordinate my country's disaster reduction efforts. Work and external affairs.

Professor Chen Yinxiang has devoted a lot of effort in disaster research, and has successively advocated the study of disaster theory and established disaster forecasting systems, early warning systems and defense systems. He believes that to study disaster science, a disaster database must be established. This is the basis. If there is no necessary data, research will be impossible. Disasters can be prevented, but it is very difficult, so a complete monitoring system must be established. Strengthen domestic and international academic exchanges and gradually establish a disaster monitoring and forecasting network; we must strengthen comprehensive theoretical research on disaster science, closely integrate current disaster prevention and experience summarization, gather our country’s scientific research, information, and talent advantages, develop cutting-edge science, and explore disasters Laws; special courses should be set up in colleges and universities to train a group of doctoral and master's students specializing in disaster science; disaster relief strategies must be studied to minimize disaster relief losses. Professor Chen said that our country has dealt with many disasters after liberation, but the cost of disaster relief has been too high.

Professor Chen also specifically mentioned that for a long time, the world's scientific research power has been mainly used for war. In the future, it should be transferred to the study of disasters to jointly deal with this enemy of mankind.

Professor Chen emphasized: "Disasters are related to everyone's vital interests, and the losses caused by disasters are often difficult to make up for. The study of disaster science should become the latest wave of benefit to mankind. In this regard, the press should lead a Good start. It is recommended to establish a 'Disaster Journalism Society' to use public opinion tools to carry out extensive publicity and mobilize the whole society to contribute to disaster prevention and reduction.

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————Taken from: Beijing Science and Technology News, 1990-08-22(3)

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