The ongoing heavy snowstorm in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has so far tortured nearly 2.6 million local people in 492 villages and towns.
As well as over 480,000 blizzard-affected households, more than 23 million livestock were also severely stricken by the disaster, which began during the Chinese lunar new year in late January.
The snowstorm has so far caused the deaths of 384,000 cattle and ruined 28 million hectares of grassland.
The blizzard claimed the lives of 32 villagers in the 5 worst-afflicted banners and counties in middle-east Inner Mongolia, leaving many more people short of water and food due to blocked traffic.
There is no information available about the total casualty numbers in the autonomous region at present.
The regional government has taken emergency action, allocating nearly 87 million yuan (more than ten million US dollars) and over 444 million tons of stock food to blizzard-hit areas. A great number of vehicles are currently busy transporting disaster-relief materials and equipment, and several tele-communication systems have resumed operation.
(People's Daily 02/16/2001)
