Early-warning stations will be built in key areas by 2020 to improve response

An earthquake early response and warning system, consisting of about 15,000 observation stations, will cover the mainland by 2020, to facilitate disaster identification and the protection of people's lives, vital infrastructure and utilities.

Such stations will be spaced 13 kilometers apart in key monitoring areas that span 200 square kilometers in North China, along the southeastern coast, in northwestern Xinjiang and along the so-called North-South Seismic Belt that encircles most of Sichuan, Gansu and Yunnan provinces, said Zheng Guoguang, new administrator of the China Earthquake Administration.