A survey carried out by China Youth Daily and QQ.com involving 1,232 respondents, revealed 94.1 percent hoped to participate in disaster-fighting or self-rescue manoeuvres, and 85.3 percent never had such activities before.

"The survival knowledge and techniques should be promoted," says Wang Donghai, a Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences researcher. "I lived in the United States for about 10 years. My children were taught how to react in hurricanes, fires and earthquakes in primary schools. It's very practical and useful. Such knowledge is not paid much attention to in our country."

Huang Xiaohua, a 40-year-old from Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, bought a book on survival skills for his son in middle school and asked him to finish it in a month. "I have paid much attention to my son's studies in Chinese, mathematics or even musical instrument, but neglected his study of survival skills. We are making up for it."

Books on earthquakes survival skills have showed up in conspicuous places in book stores. "After the quake, books on earthquakes and rescue mushroomed. They sell well, especially those on earthquake causes, dangers, rescue skills and psychological rescue," says Wang Liangqiang, a book dealer in Jinan.

Japan is taken as an exemplary country in promoting disaster rescue education. "Japan pays much attention to survival skills education," says Zhu Chengshan, a researcher with the Nanjing International Peace Research Institute, who has visited Japan many times. "Even kindergarten children are asked to enter earthquake simulators to learn how to escape."