The Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and two other departments recently issued a notice requiring all localities to strengthen the prevention and control of urban geological safety risks, and to effectively prevent and resolutely curb the occurrence of major geological safety accidents.

The four departments require that all localities, focusing primarily on cities at the prefecture level and above, accelerate the basic urban geological survey work within urban development boundaries.

At the same time, in the process of compiling and revising urban territorial spatial plans, all localities shall, based on the results of geological hazard risk census and assessment, delineate geological hazard risk zones and rationally lay out various types of construction land. Exploration of resources such as geothermal energy and groundwater shall be carried out within built-up urban areas and in densely populated and densely built areas outside built-up urban areas; expert demonstration of construction safety shall be organized; quality and safety management during construction shall be strengthened; and targeted preventive measures shall be taken against geological safety hazards according to geological conditions, so as to avoid disasters such as ground collapse, land subsidence, and water and soil inrush.

Laws and regulations and standards related to geological safety of urban engineering construction shall be strictly implemented. Housing and urban-rural development authorities at all levels and other relevant departments shall, in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, strengthen supervision and management of construction project quality. Relevant units shall strictly abide by relevant laws, regulations and mandatory standards for engineering construction, and, in light of project characteristics and with attention to regional experience, carry out urban engineering geological investigation, design, construction, supervision and other work. The construction unit shall take the lead in organizing and implementing management work to ensure the necessary conditions and inputs; the investigation unit shall submit truthful and accurate investigation reports that meet the prescribed requirements, analyze and clarify the geotechnical engineering risks that may be caused by geological conditions, propose corresponding technical preventive measure recommendations, and propose special investigation recommendations where necessary. The design unit shall propose targeted design measures based on the investigation report, and adjust and optimize the design according to the dynamic opinions on project conditions provided by the construction unit. The construction unit shall organize construction strictly in accordance with the engineering design drawings and construction technical standards, strengthen geological risk identification and dynamic tracking, and promptly take targeted measures when discrepancies with actual geological conditions are found. The supervision unit shall be responsible for reviewing the construction plan and supervising the construction unit in implementing geological risk control measures in accordance with design requirements and the construction plan.

Standards related to urban engineering geological investigation, geological hazard prevention and control, and resource exploration and development shall be improved. Implementation of existing standards such as the Code for Engineering Geological Investigation of Urban and Rural Planning, the Code for Engineering Geological Investigation of Industrial and Civil Construction, the Code for Urban Geological Survey, the Code for Geological Hazard Risk Assessment, the Code for Land Subsidence Measurement, and the Code for Supervision of Geological Hazard Prevention and Control Engineering shall be strengthened, and new technologies and methods shall be promoted and applied, so as to enhance the effectiveness of urban geological safety risk prevention and control. Urgent efforts shall be made to revise and improve the content and clauses in existing standards such as the Code for Geological Exploration of Geothermal Resources, the Code for Shallow Geothermal Energy Exploration and Evaluation, and the Technical Regulations for Geothermal Drilling that cannot meet the needs of urban geological safety risk prevention and control. Work on the formulation and revision of standards such as the Code for Karst Collapse Investigation, the Technical Code for Geothermal Reinjection, and the Code for Dynamic Monitoring of Geothermal Resources shall be accelerated; the implementation of green exploration requirements shall be strengthened; and the geological environmental impact and safety risks of engineering construction and resource exploration and development on cities shall be fully considered.

In addition, all localities shall strengthen geological safety risk control over exploration and development activities of urban resources such as geothermal energy and groundwater. A comprehensive survey of urban underground public spaces shall be carried out, with particular emphasis on rectifying damage and leakage of underground pipelines, so as to enhance early warning capabilities.