Few regions of the world seem to be immune from disruption, be it civil war, disease outbreaks, political unrest, economic downturn or religious instability. So, how does China rate as an expatriate posting?

"When SARS hit Beijing everyone went into panic mode. There was hardly anyone on the streets and the few that did leave their homes wore surgical face masks," says Hilde van Buylaere, who was working at a foreign company in Beijing during the SARS crisis in 2003.

Traffic in China is hazardous

"In what could have been a very unnerving experience, the company kept everyone calm and informed with daily meetings and handed out free surgical masks and thermometers so we could check our temperatures," says van Buylaere.

HR departments of multinational companies with assignees travelling globally need to keep themselves informed of these security issues — as do the assignees themselves — and to maintain a balanced and non-alarmist perspective.

All things considered, China is a pretty safe place to live, and significantly safer and easier than it was a decade ago.

Many major Chinese cities now have established expat standard medical clinics; an efficient medical evacuation system exists; air traffic safety is much improved; and urban crime rates, while rising, are well below those in most large Western cities.

Nevertheless, as in most developing countries, risks remain.

Many expatriates in China and abroad, were, for instance, very disturbed by the outbreak of SARS. What's more the government acknowledged that it had initially handled the situation very badly and responded by sacking the Minister for Health. Now it has implemented improved measures for easy identification and tracking of potential SARS cases

There were, however, several cases of SARS in China Taiwan and Singapore in 2004 and although the SARS situation has improved, the World Health Organisation (WHO) advises, "China's latest SARS outbreak has been contained but bio safety concerns remain."

However, when you consider how many people reside in China and how many actually contracted SARS, the risk of the average person contracting SARS was and is significantly low.

Now and even when SARS was in full swing, you have more chance of being hit by a bus in one of China's major cities than contracting the disease—so be careful when crossing the road.

"Coming from Australia where traffic is pretty orderly and very few people ride bicycles," says newly arrived expat Lisa Cowell, "I was shocked by the traffic in China's main cities. Buses, trucks, cars and bicycles go every which way, so that even crossing the street can be a huge adventure. I've heard that thousands of people are killed on Chinese roads every year, and it's not surprising."

So what steps should multinational companies and their assignees take to handle such crises, be they accidents, disease outbreaks or political unrest?

The first step should be access to reliable information. The WHO maintains a website (http://www.who.int/en/) which is updated regularly on any critical health situations across the globe.

Embassies and consulates are available to provide balanced advice about political threats and also maintain online travel advice. There are a number of risk management consultancies, with offices in China, which will provide advice on forward risk management planning, to avoid crisis planning after the event.

Other information on what medical services are available in China, how to access evacuation services if they are required, what to do in an earthquake, relevant safety and security issues, or what to do if you have a car accident or injure someone can be provided by a reliable relocation company.

One of the roles of a relocation company is to act as an interface between HR and or the assignee and the country information that they require. It is their business to know this information and if they don't know it, they know how to find out.

A few other words of advice for the new assignee:

• Register with your Embassy or Consulate, so they know who you are and where you are in the event of any local health or other crisis (Worldwide embassy search engine: www.embassyworld.com)
• Carry your passport, as well as your 'green' Resident's card when travelling domestically in China. In case of the need for evacuation, having your passport with you will enable you to leave the country immediately.
• When travelling in China, pass your phone and fax numbers and especially your hotel room number on to family and friends, preferably giving the Chinese pronunciation. The experience of spelling out a name to a non-English speaking phone operator searching for your room number can be very stressful.
• Be aware of pickpockets in crowded places and don't walk on dark streets alone.

Otherwise, relax and enjoy it. China is safer than New York, Sydney or London.

January 2005

Rebecca Freer is the relocation Manager for Asia Pacific Access, China (www.apachina.com).

Subject: Relocating to China