An unusual strong sandstorm began sweeping Inner
Mongolia Saturday afternoon, adding difficulty to the disaster
relief efforts at earthquake-hit areas in the northern autonomous
region.
The wind lashed almost the whole region with a force of
fresh breeze to fresh gale, and a snowstorm is expected to hit part
of the pastoral area later Sunday, according to the regional
meteorological bureau.
Liu Jingtao, chief engineer of the bureau, said temperature in
eastern and central Inner Mongolia fell below zero degree Celsius
Saturday night. It is expected to further drop by 6-8 degrees
Sunday and Monday.
Nearly 80 percent of the tents at Wenggensumu Town in Dong
Ujimqin Banner (county), one of the quake-affected areas, were
toppled or blown away, leaving some 10,000 earthquake victims in
the open air waiting for rescue again. The local government is
organizing efforts to ship more tents to the region, said an
official of the banner.
A total of 22 people were reported lost. By Sunday noon, 19 of
them have been found and three are still missing. More than 5,000
livestock have got lost or died. The sandstorm also caused power
failure and destroyed waterworks facilities at the Dong Ujimqin
Banner (county) and Ulgai development zone.
Starting from Saturday morning, the sandstorm, the strongest in
recent years in the region, swept from west to east through Xilin
Gol League, which was hit by an earthquake measuring 5.9 degrees on
the Richter scale last Wednesday, with the maximum speed reaching
28 meters per second, according to the weather station.
"When the wind came Saturday noon, the sky turned from blue into
red and then black in the afternoon,” said a local resident.
"I can see nothing outside the car as the visibility is less
than 10 meters," recalled a driver.
(Xinhua News Agency March 28, 2004)