1.3 Classification and Grading of Emergencies
Under this plan, the term "emergencies" refers to sudden incidents—including natural disasters, accidents, public health events, and social security incidents—that cause or may cause severe harm to society and require emergency response measures to address.
(1) Natural Disasters: Primarily include floods and droughts, meteorological disasters, earthquakes, geological disasters, marine disasters, biological disasters, and forest or grassland fires.
(2) Accidents: Primarily include production safety accidents at industrial, mining, commercial, and other enterprises; transportation accidents, marine oil spills, public facility or equipment failures, nuclear accidents, fires, and ecological or environmental incidents; as well as cybersecurity, network data security, and information security incidents.
(3) Public Health Events: Primarily include epidemic outbreaks, mass unexplained illnesses, mass poisoning incidents, food safety incidents, drug safety incidents, animal epidemics, and other incidents that severely endanger public health and safety.
(4) Social Security Incidents: Primarily include criminal cases, terrorist incidents, mass incidents, ethnic or religious incidents, financial emergencies, foreign-related incidents, and other emergencies that disrupt market stability or social order.
The above categories of emergencies are often interconnected, may occur simultaneously, or trigger secondary or derivative events. Each situation must be analyzed comprehensively and addressed in a coordinated manner.
Natural disasters, accidents, and public health events are classified into four levels based on their societal harm and scope of impact:
Particularly Major,
Major,
Relatively Major, and
General. Grading standards for emergencies are established by the State Council or its designated departments and serve as the basis for information reporting and tiered response. Grading criteria for social security incidents are defined separately.
Translation Notes:
- Terminology Consistency: Aligns with prior translations (e.g., "particularly major" for 特别重大, "social security incidents" for 社会安全事件).
- Clarity in Lists: Uses bullet points and bold headers to enhance readability while retaining the formal structure of the original.
- Technical Accuracy: Ensures precise rendering of specialized terms (e.g., "marine oil spills" for 海上溢油, "ethnic or religious incidents" for 民族宗教事件).
- Hierarchical Structure: Maintains the original section numbering and sub-categorization to reflect the document’s organization.
This translation preserves the authoritative tone and legal precision of the source text, adhering to conventions for official policy documents.