A website that provides information on emergencies opened to the public yesterday by the provincial government of Guangdong Province.

The site, which is also the official home page of the provincial government's emergency management office, is written in both Chinese and English, and is the first of its kind in the country.

Li Ronggen, Guangdong's vice-governor, said yesterday at the launch ceremony: "The purpose of the platform is to provide the public with the most accurate and up-to-date news whenever an emergency happens, and to avoid the spread of misinformation."

The site, located at www.gdemo.gov.cn, is open to all and can also be used by the public to report information about emergencies, Li said.

It defines an emergency as any natural disaster, major accident, public sanitation problem or crime, he said.

Each is classified according to its severity, from very high (shown in red), to high (orange), moderate (yellow) and normal (blue).

The site, which will be updated daily, contains lots of information about the basic definition and categorization of emergencies, Li said.

"It will help people to better understand emergencies and teach them how to deal with unusual situations," he said.

It provides tips and suggestions on how people can protect themselves in the event of a flood, fire or disease outbreak, he said.

The site will also feature information about emergencies happening around China and in the rest of the world.

(China Daily December 19, 2007)