Preparing for the worst

"When I heard about the Wenchuan earthquake 10 years ago, I gathered all my 13 full-time staff members and friends and family to go there and provide as much help as we could," Li recalls.

"It was the first time that we had been faced with such a huge disaster, so we were all inexperienced in dealing with that."

Over the past 10 years, Li has continued to promote public welfare, especially to young people.

"In 2008 and 2009, on Sept 1, the first day of the school year, I would tell millions of students that everyone of us should be involved in some form of public service," says Li.

Li places an emphasis on educating young people as they will be key to influencing future generations.

"It's also hard to promote an awareness of disasters, unlike the awareness to protect teeth or staying healthy, which people already know about," Li says.

"We need both the government and companies, and some charities to work together."

The opening ceremony was also held to mark the launch of the UNDP-China Risk & Resilience Innovation Project Chengdu Base, which will use the learning center as the base for United Nations Development Programme China to carry out a variety of projects.

The UNDP works in about 170 countries and territories to eradicate poverty and protect the environment. They help countries to develop policies, leadership skills, partnerships, institutional capabilities and build resilience in order to achieve sustainable development.

Devanand Ramiah, deputy country director of UNDP China, believes that disasters are not natural - it's the risk that's natural. He says the base will become a learning hub that connects China with other countries around the world.

"First we want to make sure that people in general, and young people especially, are prepared to how to deal with disasters at a personal level," Ramiah says.

According to Ramiah, since the Wenchuan earthquake, there has been lots of progress on how to deal with disasters, such as using unmanned vehicles and drones.

"China is coming up with lots of innovation technologies. So this center will help to take this technology and its experience in terms of risk reduction and preparedness to other countries," says Ramiah, who says one of the aims of the center is to allow other countries through the UNDP network to bring their disaster response experience to China.