A group of senior geological experts on Wednesday cautioned against a hasty reconstruction of the mudslide-devastated Zhouqu county of Gansu province before adequate geological assessment is done.

The government should draw lessons from Sichuan, where much of the reconstruction rising from the 2008 earthquake ruins has recently been destroyed again in follow-up natural disasters, the experts said.

The southwestern province of Sichuan, still recovering from the massive magnitude-8.0 earthquake, has been struck by a spate of rainstorm-triggered mudslides since Aug 12. Much of Yingxiu, the epicenter of the Sichuan earthquake, will have to be rebuilt as a result of the mudslides.

Some of the reconstructed sites that experts had considered to be safe were submerged in the mudslides. The local government said about 540,000 people have been re-victimized and relocated.

"This should caution us against hasty reconstruction in Zhouqu. Geological assessments of disaster-prone areas should come as the top priority to avoid secondary disasters in the future," Lu Yaoru, academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering and professor from the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, said on the sidelines of a forum on urban geological environment in Shanghai.

"The government has been very quick in rebuilding the quake-ravaged areas in Sichuan, but obviously there are problems involved in either disaster control or prevention, which should serve as a warning to current government efforts in Zhouqu," he said.

Premier Wen Jiabao also stressed during his recent visit to Sichuan mudslide-hit regions that the quality of construction projects should override the speed of the reconstruction.

Zhouqu in Northwest China's Gansu province was seriously damaged by rain-triggered mudslides on Aug 8, which killed at least 1,447 people, with 318 still missing.

The Gansu provincial government said last Friday that the reconstruction plan for Zhouqu would be ready by early October, and that reconstruction would be completed in two years. No official announcement, however, has yet been made as to where the county seat would be rebuilt.

An inspection team led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences has been studying the geological conditions of the area to make detailed plans for its reconstruction.

But suggestions that the county seat should be rebuilt elsewhere to avoid future disasters has caused huge public debate. Many argue that the region, known for a history of geological hazards, is no longer suitable for housing communities.

Wang Sijing, another renowned academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said if the government decides to rebuild the county seat on the original site, locations with geographical disaster hazards should be avoided. Other disaster control efforts, such as plantation, are also necessary.

"But as a matter of fact, a place like Zhouqu is not suitable for large concentrations of human population due to its complex and fragile geological conditions," he added.

Wang Bingchen, former counselor of the State Council and also a geological expert, said the government has been too obsessed with speed in post-disaster reconstruction, and that he would not be surprised if problems arose in the planning.

He also said China should build on its disaster monitoring and forecast system.

"Although a natural disaster is difficult to predict, we can still constantly build on our capacity to prevent or minimize its losses," he said. (China Daily)