China can learn from West about briefing public on disasters, admits Communist Party mouthpiece

The Communist Party’s official newspaper has urged officials to learn from Western countries about how to brief the public on emergencies and disasters amid signs of growing disquiet in China over the trustworthiness of the information the authorities are releasing about the huge explosions in Tianjin and the possible threat of contamination.

A commentary in the People’s Daily said Western countries were more open in giving worst-case scenarios in the wake of disasters and this helped create greater public trust in what the authorities said.

Thousands of tonnes of chemicals were stored at the dangerous goods warehouse destroyed in the blasts in Tianjin last week and postings on social media have expressed doubts over whether the public has been told the truth about the danger they pose in the aftermath of the explosions.

“On closer observation, Western countries when facing emergencies where there were casualties and damage to property, their initial release of public information often rather overstates the estimated danger or harmfulness, and the possible number of casualties as higher, not the opposite,” the commentary said.

It cited the examples in the United States of the government’s response to the September 11 attacks in 2001 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005 when the initial estimates of the missing and killed were higher than the final figures.