West China's Chongqing Municipality has established a system to monitor geological movements and help forecast disasters in the Three Gorges.  

Chongqing had planned to set up the system last May, said the source with the municipal government, and had finished 108 specialized monitoring stations along with 1,689 non-professional stations, dotting at the both banks of Three Gorges.

The stations would report to a notional monitoring system anything unusual, and would provide possible solutions to local government agencies, said the source.

In 2003, the stations successfully forecast 489 geological disasters in Chongqing, avoiding direct economic losses of over 66 million yuan (US$7.9 million).

Chongqing will continue the system's construction this year, and will train more specialized personnel in geological disaster prevention and control.

The government will conduct public information campaigns to raise awareness of geological disaster prevention and control.

The complicated geological conditions of the Three Gorges and occasional heavy rainstorms has led to frequent disasters in the area.

(Xinhua News Agency March 2, 2004)