Chinese government and departments at various levels have been
ordered to get themselves ready for combating floods and droughts
in the summer flood season and ensure the safety of major rivers
and reservoirs.
In a working meeting of the State Flood Control and Drought
Relief Headquarters, Chinese Vice Premier Hui
Liangyu, also chief of the headquarters, urged the full
implementation of all anti-flood and drought measures so that human
casualties and property loss can be reduced to a minimum and the
safety of major cities and communication lines can be
guaranteed.
As most parts of China have entered the main flood season, the
disasters have already caused great human and property losses, said
Hui at Saturday's meeting.
At the same time, other parts of China have been suffering
serious droughts.
He urged people to be fully prepared for more floods and
droughts and to closely monitor the changes brought by floods,
droughts and other disasters.
Victims in disaster-hit areas should be provided with adequate
food, shelter, clean drinking water, clothing and medical care, he
stressed.
According to the latest statistics released by the headquarters
and the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the floods this year have
already killed 204, left 79 missing and affected 17.06 million
people in 16 Chinese provinces, municipalities and autonomous
regions.
They have also affected 1.828 million hectares and destroyed
614,000 hectares of farmland and damaged 137,900 houses.
Meanwhile, 6.647 million hectares of farmland from 11 provinces
have suffered from droughts which have caused drinking water
shortage for 11.08 million of local residents and 6.37 million
livestock.
(Xinhua News Agency June 5, 2005)