The Sichuan Basin in southwest China has been called a "cold
center" by the Ministry of Science and Technology, even though the
Earth's surface temperature has increased about 0.6 degree in the
past century.
A Villager walks on a dry
land in Mianyang, southwest China's Sichuan Province
June 6, 2007.
As the Earth warms, scientists have found "no significant sign"
of a temperature increase in the basin, which is about three times
the size of the UK and borders the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
But that doesn't mean Sichuan Province and neighboring Chongqing Municipality, where more than 110
million people live, are climate-change-free zones. Instead,
extreme weather events, a scorching drought last year and
devastating flash floods this summer have made climate change a
life-or-death matter for residents, especially for millions of poor
people and local farmers.
Living at the basin's northeast rim, the 34-year-old newly
widowed Zhao Xiuhua witnessed several devastating scenes this
summer.
Zhao has survived a flood spilling from a reservoir overhead
while trapped between a pipe and a wall for six hours in the
poverty-stricken Tongjiang County in sichuan. Before dawn on July
2, her husband He Qiang, 31, daughter He Qian, 10, and son He
Hongxiang, 7, were killed in the flash flood caused by storms
roaring through the mountainous county. There is still no sign of
her little son's body.
"I lost my family, my home has become debris, and I have no hope
of life," sobbed Zhao. Before the disaster, she and her husband
earned their living by peddling local snacks from early morning to
late at night on the town's bumpy road.
"It's horrifying and sad," said Wang Yong, the county's disaster
relief official, adding that the downpour was the heaviest since
the country started to keep weather records in 1959.
Floods have swept away nearly all of Zhao's property and she had
to move in with her brother. She didn't realize her losses were
linked to climate change and Himalayan glacial melting.
The family of 43-year-old Li Caiqiong was lucky. When the
avalanche of falling stones hit her five-room house halfway down a
mountain in the county's Yangbai Township, she and her husband were
working in Beijing and their kids were in school. Now, Li is back
in her hometown to rebuild her house.
"All the property inside was destroyed, and we have to start
from scratch," said Li.
Local builders said reconstructing a five-room house in the
county costs 50,000 yuan on average. In many rural areas property
insurance doesn't cover the cost of rebuilding. The government
offers just one-fifth of that in aid. "We have to borrow the rest
and work around the clock to pay it off," Li said.
The catastrophe caused massive landslides, which killed at least
20 farmers in a village a dozen kilometers from town. The county
has been included in China's list of 592 poorest, out of roughly
2,800 in total.
About 1,000 households were severely hit by the downpours,
floods and landslides. Many became homeless. "People have become
even poorer, and the government's coffers have become even
tighter," said official Wang.
Statistics indicate that economic losses in Tongjiang totaled
more than 400 million yuan, but aid from the central government was
10 million yuan. "Some families will take years to recover," said
Wang.
In Sichuan this summer, thunderstorms and flash floods killed
69. Twenty-three people are still missing and 24 million have been
affected by the disasters. Direct economic loss amounted to 7.8
billion yuan.
Last summer, Sichuan was plagued by its most severe drought
since 1951, and its neighbor, Chongqing Municipality, was ravaged
by the worst drought in a century, leaving more than 17 million
people with drinking water shortages.
This summer, Chongqing has been hit by the worst downpour and
flooding in a century. Experts are blaming the freak weather
conditions on global warming. The death toll reached 80 by the end
of July; one of three residents has been affected by the
floods.
Sichuan and Chongqing are not alone. More than 700 people this
year have been killed in floods, landslides, mudslides and storms
across 24 provinces, and 82.05 million have been affected,
according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
International organizations and domestic scientists attribute
the disasters to climate change mainly caused by human activity.
The most evident example is in the Himalayan glacial area, which
has shrunk by 20 percent over the past century.
Kerry Brown, an associate fellow with the London-based think
tank Chatham House, says China's poor are the least able to protect
themselves against the impact of environmental degradation and
climate change.
(China Daily September 26, 2007)
