Mr. Zhang Xiaoning, who is now Director General of National Disaster Reduction Center of China’s Ministry of Emergency Management, has deeply involved for over 30 years in disaster risk prevention, reduction, relief, office and programme management. Since 1992, he provided leadership to or widely participated in national activities on major disaster assessment, relief and recovery as well as international activities on establishing the role of disaster risk reduction as a core development strategy.

Mr. Zhang started his career at Ministry of Civil Affairs of China in 1992

after getting a Master of Economics and a Bachelor of Science both from China’s Lan Zhou University. Since then, he has served the Ministry in various important capacities, including as:

-Deputy Director (DG level), Secretary Office, National Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction of China (2012-2016)

-ChiefEngineer/DeputyDirectorGeneral,NationalDisaster Reduction Center of China (2011-2012, 2012-2016)

-Director, Division of Disaster Risk Reduction, Department of Disaster Relief (2007-2011)

-Deputy Director/ Director, Division of Disaster Relief, Department of Disaster Relief (2001-2007)

-HumanResourcesOfficial,DivisionofStaffManagement& Development, Department of Human Resources (1992-1994)

He also served in local government as:

-Vice Mayor, Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province, China (2016-2018)

-Head of Civil Affairs Agency at county level in Jiangxi Province (1997)

In 2020, he was nominated and selected as Co-Chair of Emergency Preparedness Working Group (EPWG) of APEC. In 2021, he was appointed as Director General of National Disaster Reduction Center and served in China’s Ministry of Emergency Management at a time when China’s emergency management is progressing toward modernization.