In the aftermath of tropical storm Bilis over 4,200 prisoners in
Guangdong have been rescued from two prisons
in Shaoguan City after floods left them stranded for two days.
Twenty prison wardens managed to get food and water to the
inmates evacuated from one jail on Saturday afternoon when some 30
inmates began to show symptoms of gastroenteritis and skin
diseases.
Two helicopters airdropped 2.1 tons of food, drinking water,
medicine and other supplies on Sunday afternoon after their
previous attempts failed due to the weather conditions. The police
helicopters also evacuated 32 people from the flood-stricken area
including 22 children, four pregnant women, six injured people and
police officers.
The prison administration also rented boats to ship food from
urban regions to the flood-stranded inmates. No lives were lost or
injuries suffered during the two separate rescue operations.
Six more people in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region were
confirmed dead on Tuesday bringing the death toll from the
rainstorms and flooding triggered by Bilis across China to 204.
The death toll in Guangxi rose to 25 on Tuesday while nine
others remained missing, according to local officials. In Guangxi
5.86 million people were affected and the economic losses stood at
approximately? 1.21 billion yuan (more than US$151 million). A
total of 369,000 local residents have been relocated to safety
after some 17,700 houses were damaged or destroyed in the
disaster.
The local government has provided 5 million yuan (US$625,000)
for disaster relief and some 30 officials have been dispatched to
help the flood-hit regions.
Bilis bit China last Friday and triggered heavy rainfall and
serious floods in Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong and Guangxi. More than 1.7
million residents have been evacuated over the past weekend,
according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
Hunan Province is the worst-hit where 92 people were killed and
more than 100 are missing. The storms claimed 43 lives in Fujian
Province and 44 in Guangdong.
The floods were expected to affect Changsha, capital city of
Hunan, on Tuesday night, forcing the evacuation of nearly 4,000
people. More than 2 million soldiers and local residents have been
mobilized to fight against possible flooding along the bank of the
major river sections in the city. About 380,000 cubic meters of
rocks and large amounts of flood-control materials were made ready
to hold back floodwater.
As the tropical storm subsided and moved westward to Guizhou and
Yunnan provinces high temperatures were predicted for Hunan and
Fujian in the coming week, according to local meteorological
stations. The peak temperature is expected to be 40 degrees Celsius
in Hunan and 39 in Fujian.
Traffic had resumed on the flooded trunk railway linking Beijing
and Guangzhou by midday on Tuesday after the efforts of more than
5,000 workers to repair damage over the past three days, the
Guangzhou Railway Group said.
By 6:18 p.m. railway workers had repaired all the damage but
normal operations will only resume at a later date due to the
remaining high water levels in some areas. Floods and rainstorms
had disrupted part of the north-to-south artery and thousands of
passengers were stranded along the route.
Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu on Tuesday urged officials to
continue their work in flood control and disaster relief. The
government regards the current flood control task as its top
priority, Hui said during an inspection of the worst hit Hunan
Province.
Hui, also head of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief
Headquarters, led an inspection of Hunan on Tuesday, calling for
continuous efforts in flood control, resettlement of affected
people and the rebuilding of houses.
The vice premier said storm affected areas still faced great
challenges and asked that governments at all levels take effective
measures to prevent more disasters and ensure the safety of major
rivers and reservoirs in flood season.
The Ministry of Finance approved 65 million yuan (US$8.125
million) to fund disaster relief work in Hunan, Guangdong, Fujian
and Jiangxi provinces. The Ministry of Civil Affairs has
successively activated grade 4 and grade 3 of the emergency
response mechanism to provide relief to the disaster areas.
In line with the mechanism two vice-ministers of civil affairs,
Li Liguo and Dou Yupei, have led joint work groups representing the
Ministry of Civil Affairs, Ministry of Finance and several other
departments to Hunan and Fujian to guide relief work.
Bilis claimed at least 14 lives in the Luzon region of the
Philippines before hitting China, according to Philippine
officials.
(Xinhua News Agency July 19, 2006)