Two destructive rainstorms in the past two weeks have killed 21
people and affected at least 4.6 million people in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the local
government said on Wednesday.
The two rainstorms, hitting 71 counties of the region between
June 7 and 10 and between June 13 and 15, caused mud-rock flows,
landslides and mountain torrents in the cities of Wuzhou and Baise,
said a spokesman with the regional civil affairs department.
He said the disastrous weather affected at least 4.6 million
residents, with another 195,500 evacuated.
The civil affairs department has sent five rescue teams to nine
cities to help locals reconstruct their homes, he said.
Meanwhile, the central government has appropriated 21 million
yuan (US$2.625 million) of relief fund, which will be distributed
among the disaster-ravaged cities including Wuzhou and Guilin, the
spokesman said.
Continuous heavy rains since late May have also caused serious
floods in Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces as well as Chongqing municipality.
By mid June, China's central government had earmarked 116
million yuan (US$14.5 million) in emergency disaster relief for
flood victims in south China.
China suffers floods every year during the June-to-August rainy
season, during which rivers overflow and water rushes down
mountains, often causing deadly landslides.
(Xinhua News Agency June 21, 2006)