BEIJING: China has released a risk map of marine disasters and called for measures to prevent and mitigate the risk of such disasters. The map, released by the Ministry of Natural Resources, shows high-risk coastal areas including the estuaries of the Yangtze and Zhujiang rivers, the Leizhou Peninsula, and some parts of the northern coast of the Hainan Island. Major marine disasters include sea ice, storms, typhoons and tsunamis. Rising sea levels also affect coastal areas, including economically developed cities with large populations, such as Tianjin and Shanghai.
China is one of the world's countries most affected by marine disasters. From 2001 to 2017, direct economic losses caused by marine disasters totaled more than 207.5 billion yuan (about 32.8 billion US dollars).
Coastal areas have become China's most densely populated areas. But due to global climate change, the risk of marine disasters continues to increase.