The problem with China is size, population, politics and economics. They are at the same stage, in many ways, as Japan was 40 years ago, the market is almost entirely geared around products for the West produced as cheaply as possible, so the actual money to spend on Social structure is extremely limited. The difference here is that both Japan and the UK are capable of producing houses that have a good level of defence against natural disaster, but only Japan have chosen to invest in it. Now, admittedly, Earthquakes are a lot more dangerous than Floods in most cases, but Floods tend to be a lot cheaper to defend against.
As much as I hate to say it, life is also cheap in China, 1000 people die in a landslide? That's like someone being hit by a car in the UK with regards to total population impact.