Worst of Flooding Finally Passes
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The heart of China withstood the worst flooding in more than 40 years, but it disrupted the lives of almost a quarter of its citizens, required massive manpower efforts to maintain flood control efforts and cost more than 3,600 lives. On Sunday, Sept. 6, Chinese President Jiang Zemin declared victory over the worst flooding to sweep northeast China in decades. Also hard hit were the provinces along the Yangtze River basin in central China. Now the country faces the battle rebuilding, Jiang was quoted as saying. In October, a senior Chinese official announced that the death toll from China's summer floods was 3,656, more than 20% higher than first announced. In addition, more than 5.6 million houses were destroyed and nearly 64 million acres of land swamped. Niu Maosheng, vice director of China's flood control bureau, estimate total damage at $30 billion. About 230 million people, more than a fifth of China's population, were affected by the two months of floods, the worst in 44 years on the Yangtze River and in decades in China's northeast. Several relief efforts were mounted, including major efforts by the International Red Cross. In addition, groups of adoptive families also raised money to aid the country, often directing funds to orphanages that were impacted by the flooding. The flooding also damaged a number of cultural and natural assets in China, including world heritage sites, according to the China's State Bureau for Preservation of Cultural Relics. The bureau estimated repairs to these sites, including scenic landscapes at Mt. Lu in Jiangxi province, would cost 200 million yuan, or about $25 million. Of more immediate concern was the need to feed the country after so much of its arrable land was damaged by flooding. The World Food Program in September announced that it was launching its first-ever emergency relief operation in China, providing food for nearly 6 million people forced from their homes. "It's tested the ability of the government to respond on its own," said Francis Mwanza, spokesman for the Rome-based U.N. agency. "They have come out asking for international help; that's why we're going in." WFP said it would provide 272,000 tons of rice to residents of the hardest-hit areas of Hunan, Hubei, Anhui and Jiangxi. Flood victims were scheduled to receive free food rations until the floodwaters dried, expected in mid-October. WFP then was planning to pay the victims in food for help building shelters, restoring drinking water and repairing damaged roads. Chinese citizens sought to help countrymen in need through donations of goods organized by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, which developed collection stations and hotlines, said ministry spokesman Ge Changrong. Because China does not have a strong system of independent charities, the donation drive is largely government-run. Apart from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, only the Chinese chapter of the Red Cross and the China Charity Federation are authorized to collect funds at donation boxes. The government estimated that donations reached about $120 million by the end of August. But even that, added to the government's direct assistance, has fallen far short of what is needed. After battling a deadly summer of floods, China now faces the threat of drought in its major wheat-growing regions, state media said in October. A drought that began after the flood worsened in Henan, Hubei, Shanxi and Shandong provinces in the north. Farmers in a few southern provinces also face the threat of severe drought, it said. The drought endangered the planting of winter wheat. Northern China's wheat-growing areas have had little rainfall since September, the reports said. The Yellow River has been dry for 138 days in Shandong province this year. The floods have highlighted the need to improve ecological efforts in China. These will include ambitious plans to restore heavily logged forests and using terracing techniques that for thousands of years have turned mountains into farmland in southwestern China. However, the task won't be easy. In addition, intensive farming has stripped away the thin soil in places, leaving barren, stony scars hundreds of feet long. NOTE: Information from The Associated Press and other sources |
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