Risks of Energy Systems and Hazards in China

We are very glad to have been invited to become Guest Editors for the Special Issue of Natural Hazards on Risks of Energy Systems and Hazards in China. After a strict and long review process, now is our privilege to provide you this special issue. Many thanks to all authors, anonymous reviewers, and editorial team and staff for their contribution and effort to make this special issue possible. We also wish to extend our sincere thanks to Prof. Tad Murty, the editor in chief of Natural Hazards, for his supports and invitation as well as his comments on this issue. Thanks also to Dr. Hua Liao, Mr. Yun-Fei Yao, Mr. Zhen-Hua Feng, Ms. Li Liu, Ms. Jing-Li Fan for their help and suggestions. We gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the BIT of 985 Program and National Natural Science Foundation of China under grant No. 71020107026, the CAS Strategic Priority Research Program grant No. XDA05150600, and SRFDP under the grant No. 20091101110044. China is a developing country at the stage of rapid development, but also one of the countries suffering the highest natural disasters frequency. On the one hand, large-scale use of fossil fuels, acceleration of the process of industrialization, development and utilization of natural resources, and related greenhouse gas emissions have become important factors affecting natural conditions; on the other hand, natural disasters and their impacts also affect in different ways through the system acting on the social and economic development, while working closely with the role of climate change. Therefore, the comprehensive study on the system of energy and disaster is very necessary. This special issue gathers 12 original researches on China’s energy system and natural disasters.