Heavy rains plague China
2005-06-03 12:12
Beijing - The death toll from torrential rains in parts of China rose to 71 on Friday with another 58 missing as emergency relief supplies were rushed to help more than 200 000 people forced from their homes.
Heavy downpours and fast-moving mountain torrents have plagued the provinces of Hunan, Sichuan and Guizhou since May 30, destroying 67 000 houses and killing 30 000 head of livestock, the latest figures show.
Vast tracts of farmland have been ruined.
The central province of Hunan is the worst affected, with 49 people dead and 42 missing, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said on its website.
An estimated 203 000 people have been evacuated in Hunan alone, with telecommunications, transportation and water supplies out of action.
Bridges washed away
Officials said they had dispatched rice, clean water and other relief materials to the area while the ministry of health issued an urgent circular calling for immediate preventive measures to stem outbreaks of disease.
Fang Zhiyong, an official at the ministry, said the weather was improving but it was proving difficult collecting information.
"The rain has now stopped in Hunan but in some places transportation and communications are still not working," he said.
"The death toll may well have gone up but we haven't been able to calculate it because we can't reach people."
Pictures from Hunan show bridges washed away and trees trunks and other debris strewn along river banks and roads.
One photograph shows a woman weeping among the ruins of her house, while armed police are shown carrying the injured on makeshift stretchers as villagers trudge along with their meagre belongings on their backs.
The ministry said that in Sichuan five people have died and 11 are missing. In Guizhou, 17 are dead, five missing and 140 people injured. Reports of injuries from elsewhere were not given.
In the worst-hit county of Xinshao in Hunan, 201mm of rain fell in a single 24-hour period, Xinhua news agency reported.
Many people in Xinshao were injured by buildings that crumbled as the gushing streams of water hit. Officials on Thursday said medicine was desperately needed.
"The people in the affected areas are coping," a health official was quoted as saying on the Xinshao county government website.
"Most of the injured residents have received preliminary treatment. Some of the seriously injured have been evacuated.
"The rescue and epidemic prevention work is being methodically carried out."
Vice-premier Hui Liangyu, also chief of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, has ordered governments at all levels in the worst-hit areas to quickly organise disaster relief work, Xinhua said
- AFP