Heavy snows of up to 1 meter have stranded 220,000 people in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, cutting off traffic and communications.

 

Winds from Siberia also caused temperatures to drop sharply to minus 43 Celsius in some areas.

 

Altogether lives of more than 620,000 people have been affected and 9,234 head of livestock were killed, Xinjiang Daily reported.

 

About 100,000 people have also been forced to leave their homes because of the snow.

?A week-long blizzard that started December 29 also toppled houses, especially in the northern parts of the region, said Qu Songlin, an official with the region's civil affair bureau.

 

About 6,000 people suffered from various diseases, and 300,000 head of livestock face starvation, he said. There have been no reports on human casualties. Disaster relief efforts are under way.

 

The Ministry of Civil Affairs has also sent officials to the region to supervise relief efforts, a ministry official surnamed Zhang said on Friday.

 

The top priority is to resume traffic and transportation, said Wang Zhenyao, another disaster relief official with the ministry. Providing adequate clothing and enough food for those affected is also high on the agenda.

 

Among the hardest hit communities are Fuyun, Qinghe, Altay, Habahe and Buerjin in northern Xinjiang, Wang said.

 

The local government in Altay has allocated 1.7 million yuan (US$210,000) in disaster relief, Xinjiang Daily reported.

 

He Lifu, a forecaster with the Central Meteorological Office, said no heavy snow is forecast for the region in the coming week.

 

Winter is usually a harsh season for Xinjiang's 19.6 million people.

 

Meteorologists had predicted that China would experience its coldest winter since 1986, reports said.

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(China Daily January 7, 2006)