The Beijing News has published an article, saying the government should consider science and technology-related solutions to efficiently deal with national disasters, such as the recent spate of snow and sleet that affected transport and power supplies in southern China.

The article says during the recent snow crisis, the government relied on civil servants and soldiers to shovel snow and ice in many areas. While there was certainly nothing wrong with that, more use of mechanical devices could have improved the efficiency.

For example, in southern China's Hunan Province, people used wooden sticks and wrenches to deice frozen electrical cables, but an advanced deicing technology that had already been in use in northwestern China's Shaanxi Province had ensured continuous electrical power whenever snowstorms hit the city.

The newspaper says with the frequency of extreme weather conditions occurring more often because of global warming, we should make efforts to form a high-tech, disaster-prevention system.