opinion

At present, calamities caused by disastrous abnormal weather are being witnessed across the world.

In particular, typhoon, downpour and flood are bringing severe damage.

According to data available, over two million people died due to typhoon and flood and economic losses amounted to US$ 3.64 trillion in the period from 1970 to 2019.

What is serious is that the disastrous abnormal weather continues for several years, showing a symptom of going from bad to worse.

Our country has suffered from its influence for several consecutive years.

Last year, river banks were burst to flood farmland in some areas of Kangwon Province, causing severe damage. In July this year, damage occurred in several areas of North Phyongan and Jagang provinces by flood and downpour.  

Such reality shows that it is a very urgent task which should not be delayed even for a moment to prevent various disasters threatening the prosperity of the state and the welfare of people.

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un said that it would be quite possible to prevent any accident if the disaster prevention work is seriously accepted as a matter of attitude and viewpoint on service toward the state and people and an important political and ideological matter, not merely a campaign against natural disaster, and measures are taken with high alertness to foresee even the worst situation.

And he underscored the need to build up the state’s disaster prevention capability to minimize natural disasters in his immortal classic work “Let the Entire Party, the Whole Army and All the People Conduct a Vigorous Forest Restoration Campaign to Cover the Mountains of the Country with Green Woods” and his policy speech delivered at the Seventh Session of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPRK.

Even if the havoc caused by nature is destructive, we can surely prevent it.

If we set up a well-knit crisis management system to predict factors of natural disasters and positively cope with it, based on the unity of the people’s voluntary action, we can minimize the damage.

Officials play a very important role in this work.

We officials should positively turn out in the work, regarding the disaster prevention work as an occasion to prove their viewpoint on service for the people.

They should effectively push ahead with the work to survey all factors vulnerable to natural calamities and eliminate them by mobilizing all reserves, feasibilities and potentials.

It is necessary to take thoroughgoing measures to cope with abnormal weather, the danger of which has become greater in recent years, and positively hasten river improvement, dyke maintenance, anti-land-sliding and tide embankment projects.

It is most important for officials to make their sectors and units fully prepared for any unexpected disasters by getting rid of practices of working perfunctorily and acting from expediency and the rule-of-thumb and patching-up way of work and organizing all work on the basis of scientific operation plans and detailed calculation.

When all officials and other working people make vigorous efforts to cope with disastrous abnormal weather from the standpoint of the state and patriotic attitude, they can surely minimize damage from natural phenomena.