A strong earthquake of a 8.0-magnitude shook the Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province at

14:28 May 12, 2008, with a string of adjacent provinces and municipalities being affected

by the quake. Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) published on May 14,

2008 in its portal the first array of technologies that can be employed to deal with public

sanitation and food safety problems appeared in earthquake rescue. Meanwhile, it

published a booklet to answer 49 frequently asked questions. The list has covered major

technologies and response strategies to deal with some 30 infectious diseases commonly

appeared after the quake, including enteric diseases, diseases shared by both human and

animal, pests born diseases, skin ailment, and food borne diseases, along with a range of

preventative measures that should be adopted in the disaster areas. The booklet asks

people in the disaster areas to fence off infections by killing fly and rats, frequently washing

their hands, applying medicine over their skin wounds, and see doctors when having a

headache or fever.

The part of food safety has its focus on drinking water and food in the disaster areas, with

ten preventative measures for possible food poisoning, two simple procedures for judging

food poisoning, and three simple approaches for handling food poisoning. It also introduces

basic techniques and methods for ensuring drinking water safety in the disaster areas,

including drinking water disinfection/purification, and judging the quality of drinking water,

with 74 key technologies and products available for food safety after a disaster, including

techniques and approaches for monitoring pathogenic organisms in food, testing poisonous

matters in food, and examining chemical residues in food.

MOST plans to publish more practical technologies and techniques in line with the

development of disasters.