2007年VOA标准英语-APEC Beefs Up Disaster Responses at Australia C

By Phil Mercer
Sydney
23 August 2007

Relatives of patients look on as they sit outside a hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh, 19 Aug 2007

An APEC conference in northern Australia has unveiled a multi-million dollar aid package for disaster-hit regions. Australian officials say that in 2005 the overwhelming majority of those killed from natural disasters were in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) region. From Sydney, Phil Mercer reports.

Delegates at the three-day meeting were told that members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation group suffer more from natural disasters than any other region.

Seven in 10 of those killed by storms, earthquakes and tsunamis¹ since 2000 lived in APEC member countries.

Officials from the United Nations have reported that serious flooding across Asia and South America was a reminder³ that the number of extreme events had risen in recent times.

The disaster experts from 21 countries have spent the past few days looking at ways to reduce the damage from natural disasters and to speed up emergency services after a disaster strikes.

Australia and Indonesia chaired the meeting of APEC emergency experts in the Australian city of Cairns. The two countries cooperated closely after the Asian tsunami² in December 2004.

The conference has also looked at ways to prepare for the threat of terrorism.

Australian Attorney General Philip Ruddock says the attacks in Britain in July 2005 showed that careful disaster planning helped the authorities to cope better.

"When they had the London bombing the people who were responsible for dealing⁴ with those emergencies had been undertaking⁵ exercises only the day or so before," said Ruddock. "The fact that they had been exercising and practicing and working out how they would respond to an emergency that like if it did arise meant that they were able to handle it much more efficiently⁶ and effectively."

Australia will contribute an extra $12 million to help with regional disaster relief and management.

The meeting in Cairns included representatives from the 21 governments that form the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum⁷.

The forum accounts for roughly half the world's trade.

Members include China, Japan, United States and a host of smaller economies from Asia and Latin America.

Australia's biggest city, Sydney, will hold the annual APEC leaders' summit in early September.

1 tsunamis   

n.海啸( tsunami的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Our oceans are alive with earthquakes, volcanoes, and more recently, tsunamis. 海中充满着地震、火山，包括最近发生的海啸。 来自常春藤生活英语杂志-2006年2月号
• Please tell me something more about tsunamis! 请您给我讲讲海啸吧！ 来自辞典例句

2 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

3 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

4 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

5 undertaking   

n.保证，许诺，事业

参考例句：

• He gave her an undertaking that he would pay the money back with in a year.他向她做了一年内还钱的保证。
• He is too timid to venture upon an undertaking.他太胆小，不敢从事任何事业。

6 efficiently   

adv.高效率地，有能力地

参考例句：

• The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。
• Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。

7 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。