The frequent heavy rains over the last few days have caused disasters including floods and mudslides, revealing weaknesses in the country's disaster prevention and relief infrastructures. To help solve the problems, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao is urging governments at all levels to make efforts to guarantee residents in all parts of the country are out of harm's way.
July has brought China a series of torrential downpours that have caused flooding, mudslides and other disasters in some areas. And the intensity of some regional storms are making it extremely difficult for further damages to be avoided.
Beijing has been one of the sufferers. Last weekend, the city witnessed its heaviest rainfall of the past 10 years. Roads and overpasses were waterlogged, traffic was cut off for hours, and some single-storey houses became pools. All the problems were attributed to the capital's sluggish drainage system.
When the storm came, more than 2 thousand traffic policemen were allocated to guide the traffic in case of any emergencies. Meng Xianlong from the municipal traffic bureau recaps:
"Right after the rain came, we have allocated personnel to some key points to help with traffic emergencies."
Shanghai was also hit hard. A sudden storm Monday caused gridlock and blackouts in some areas. The flash storm's gale force winds killed 2 and injured 1. Shanghai is now attempting to repair the massive damages as quickly as possible.
A storm in the southwest province of Yunnan caused floods and landslides that resulted in severe losses, including 18 deaths, 20 thousand ruined houses, and damage to 10 thousand hectares of farmland. Up to now, some 20 million yuan have been offered in aid to help local residents get through the disaster.
The provinces of Hunan, Guangxi and Shandong have also been hit with varying degrees of flood disasters. So far, 300 people have died, 2 million hectares of farmland has been damaged and an estimated 10 billion yuan of damages have occurred.
Qiu Ruitian from the National Flood and Drought Prevention Office said the present storms and floods are regional, and water levels of major rivers haven't reached worrisome levels. But China has already entered the flood season, and authorities are on high alert.
"The weather report says the subtropical high upon west Pacific is going to move northwestward after July 13th, which will probably affect rainfalls in northern China and floods are the most likely case."
The national Flood and Drought Prevention Office has appealed the public strengthening defense against severe accidents. Local governments at all levels have started emergency plan against floods, while closely watching over climate changes to minimize losses brought about by further flood disasters.
(CRI July 14, 2004)
