CHINA
Snow and cold paralyse China
Friday, February 1, 2008
Army troops are being mobilised to help the population get through record-breaking snow and cold a week before the Chinese New Year. (Report: A. Roy)
Friday, February 1, 2008
GUANGZHOU, China, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Millions of Chinese
faced a humanitarian crisis on Friday, as petrol and food
reserves dwindled and yet more bad weather was forecast for a
country paralysed by record-breaking cold and snow.
More than 160 counties and cities in central China were
suffering blackouts and water shortages, Xinhua news agency
said, including Chenzhou, in Hunan province, a city of 4
million that has been without power and water for more than a
week.
"Many trees are severed and power lines have collapsed.
It's like we have experienced an air raid or lost a battle," a
Chenzhou hotel worker told Reuters by telephone. "It is a
complete mess. We are hungry and cold."
Some 250,000 troops had been mobilised as of Friday to help
with disaster relief and the army sent an armoured personnel
carrier to clear one ice-covered highway, Xinhua said, as
millions geared up for a cold, dark Chinese New Year next week.
Stricken areas of south and central China are suffering the
worst winter weather in half a century, with at least 60 people
dying in weather-related accidents.
Miners are working overtime and coal has been given
priority to speed through the rail network as Beijing fights
the country's most serious power crisis ever.
"Ice on power cables is so thick that it is impossible for
the power cables to carry their weight and power pylons have
collapsed," Zhu Hongren, an official with the National
Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), told a news
conference.
State television said Chenzhou's petrol reserves could only
run for another seven days and its rice could feed residents
for another five days.
Cooking oil and vegetables were also running out, with
prices surging. Residents were relying on fire engines for
rationed drinking water, it said.
In hard-hit Guizhou province, prices of petrol and candles
have quadrupled with the country already facing its highest
inflation in more than a decade.
The NDRC issued a notice urging its local bureaux to guard
against price gouging and the Ministry of Communications said
trucks carrying farm goods would be exempt from highway tolls.
Zhu said the disaster had taken an economic toll, but added
that "underlying fundamentals" were still sound.
"If we take a long-term view, such a disaster will be a
temporary one, and therefore its impact on the economy will be
short-term," he said.
But Hunan, Guizhou and Jiangxi were all facing fresh
storms, and Zhu said the extreme weather could last another 10
days.
TRAINS CREAK TO LIFE
Nearly 6 million passengers have been stranded on trains or
in railway stations in the past week.
On Friday, the railways were creaking back into action and
the key link between Beijing and Guangzhou had been restored.
Numbers waiting in Guangzhou's station were down by half from a
peak of 800,000, but that still left hundreds of thousands of
travellers scrambling to board delayed trains.
For millions of China's migrant workers, next week's Lunar
New Year holiday is their only chance to see family all year.
With transport lines still choked, the State Food and Drug
Administration said it was working to ensure shortages were
averted but warned of possible health risks.
"We still have masses at train stations, bus stations, at
airports and in crowded areas where perhaps some kinds of
intestinal infectious disease could break out," Yan Jiangying,
the watchdog's spokeswoman, told a news conference.
In Guangzhou, travellers needed luck as well as a ticket.
"It's not looking good," said Hu Lin, an environmental
assessment official from Hubei province. "This is like if you
prepare dinner for two and 200 people show up."
faced a humanitarian crisis on Friday, as petrol and food
reserves dwindled and yet more bad weather was forecast for a
country paralysed by record-breaking cold and snow.
More than 160 counties and cities in central China were
suffering blackouts and water shortages, Xinhua news agency
said, including Chenzhou, in Hunan province, a city of 4
million that has been without power and water for more than a
week.
"Many trees are severed and power lines have collapsed.
It's like we have experienced an air raid or lost a battle," a
Chenzhou hotel worker told Reuters by telephone. "It is a
complete mess. We are hungry and cold."
Some 250,000 troops had been mobilised as of Friday to help
with disaster relief and the army sent an armoured personnel
carrier to clear one ice-covered highway, Xinhua said, as
millions geared up for a cold, dark Chinese New Year next week.
Stricken areas of south and central China are suffering the
worst winter weather in half a century, with at least 60 people
dying in weather-related accidents.
Miners are working overtime and coal has been given
priority to speed through the rail network as Beijing fights
the country's most serious power crisis ever.
"Ice on power cables is so thick that it is impossible for
the power cables to carry their weight and power pylons have
collapsed," Zhu Hongren, an official with the National
Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), told a news
conference.
State television said Chenzhou's petrol reserves could only
run for another seven days and its rice could feed residents
for another five days.
Cooking oil and vegetables were also running out, with
prices surging. Residents were relying on fire engines for
rationed drinking water, it said.
In hard-hit Guizhou province, prices of petrol and candles
have quadrupled with the country already facing its highest
inflation in more than a decade.
The NDRC issued a notice urging its local bureaux to guard
against price gouging and the Ministry of Communications said
trucks carrying farm goods would be exempt from highway tolls.
Zhu said the disaster had taken an economic toll, but added
that "underlying fundamentals" were still sound.
"If we take a long-term view, such a disaster will be a
temporary one, and therefore its impact on the economy will be
short-term," he said.
But Hunan, Guizhou and Jiangxi were all facing fresh
storms, and Zhu said the extreme weather could last another 10
days.
TRAINS CREAK TO LIFE
Nearly 6 million passengers have been stranded on trains or
in railway stations in the past week.
On Friday, the railways were creaking back into action and
the key link between Beijing and Guangzhou had been restored.
Numbers waiting in Guangzhou's station were down by half from a
peak of 800,000, but that still left hundreds of thousands of
travellers scrambling to board delayed trains.
For millions of China's migrant workers, next week's Lunar
New Year holiday is their only chance to see family all year.
With transport lines still choked, the State Food and Drug
Administration said it was working to ensure shortages were
averted but warned of possible health risks.
"We still have masses at train stations, bus stations, at
airports and in crowded areas where perhaps some kinds of
intestinal infectious disease could break out," Yan Jiangying,
the watchdog's spokeswoman, told a news conference.
In Guangzhou, travellers needed luck as well as a ticket.
"It's not looking good," said Hu Lin, an environmental
assessment official from Hubei province. "This is like if you
prepare dinner for two and 200 people show up."
There are no reactions so far.
Be the first user to react to this article.
You will only have to select the button <<REACT>> and fill the indicated fields.
Your reaction
Your reaction has been sent to FRANCE 24. Thank you for your feedback.
France 24 - Send by e-mail
The article has successfully been sent by email
