In the following weeks, about 5.7 million Shanghai families will receive the free handbook "Citizen's Required Manual On Preventing Catastrophe."

To generate more publicity for the manual's launch, local authority today will hold a series of publicity activities simultaneously in the city's Huangpu, Changning and Minhang districts.

City officials, including Vice Mayor Yang Xiong, will join local civil defense volunteers to hand out the booklets to representatives of citizens.

Officials said the brochure, which was produced at a cost of about 8 million yuan (US$963,855), aimed to enhance citizens' awareness against catastrophe and to improve their self-rescue skills.

"It is a comprehensive manual which covers 11 common disasters in Shanghai - namely fire, poisoning and earthquake," said Liu Nanshan, Shanghai Civil Defense Office director.

In light of the recent tidal waves that killed thousands in Southeast Asia, civil defense officials said they were considering to include information on tsunami in the booklet.