Chinese lawmakers and government advisors have warned against a
possible recurrence of the devastating summer flooding of the
Yangtze, China's longest river, in 1998, but they also expressed
strong confidence in the river's fortified embankments.
"Flood control and resistance should always top the agenda in all
Yangtze-related work," said Li Antian, a noted water conservancy
expert, who is in Beijing for the first session of the 10th
National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative
Conference (CPPCC), the top advisory body in China.
In
January and February, the upper reaches of the Yangtze recorded
seldom seen scarce precipitation figures with the local water level
dropping to a record low. Meanwhile, the water level in the middle
and lower reaches was higher than usual due to the swelling of
major lakes that empty into the Yangtze.
This has triggered speculations and worries among some scholars,
who pointed out that similar signs had also emerged prior to the
mighty flood in 1998. That flooding claimed more than 1,000 lives
and caused great economic losses.
Sources with the Yangtze River Water Resources Committee based in
Central China's Hubei Province also predicted a high possibility of
massive rainfall in the Yangtze middle and lower reaches during
this year's impending flood season, mainly due to the influence of
El Nino.
Cai Qihua, director of the committee and a deputy to the 10th
National People's Congress, China's top legislature, which will
hold its first annual session in Beijing from March 5, conceded
that the situation in the Yangtze's upper reaches in this year's
dry season did look similar to the 1998 scenario, but claimed this
did not necessarily mean major summer flooding was inevitable.
"We will not get a reliable forecast until late March or early
April," she said.
Even if the flooding really occurs this summer and is as ferocious
as the one in 1998, people could still feel at ease as they are now
under the protection of more than 3,500 kilometers of fortified
embankments, Cai added.
After the 1998 flooding, which caused the breach of some sections
of the outdated Yangtze dykes, the Chinese Government invested more
than 29 billion yuan (US$3.5 billion) to strengthen or rebuild the
embankments, especially those along the river's middle and lower
reaches. The project was completed last year.
(China Daily March 4, 2003)