A total of 36,832 fires in China have killed 971 people during the first quarter of this year, according to sources with the Public Security Ministry. The fires also injured 1,228 people and caused 310 million yuan (about 37 million U.S. dollars) in direct economic losses, the English-language newspaper China Daily reported today. Urban residential fires had the highest percentage of China's urban fire accidents.
In 1999, 22,000 urban residential fire disasters killed 673 people in China, causing 110 million yuan in economic losses, the paper said.
About 88.8 percent of the deaths and 72.6 percent of the injuries in urban fires were caused by residential fires. Yet, many urban residents lack fire prevention awareness, which is a major factor in fire accidents.
To deal with the situation, a nationwide publicity campaign on residential fire control to increase fire prevention awareness was launched Wednesday in Beijing and will last until early November.
