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Natural disasters kill 1,074 in China this year
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NATURAL disasters across China have left at least 1,074 people dead and 270 unaccounted for since the beginning of this year, an official from the Ministry of Civil Affairs said Tuesday.
The most notable events included floods, heavy winds, hail and a range of geological disasters, said Yang Xiaodong, deputy head of the disaster relief department of the ministry.
In total, natural disasters caused 298 billion yuan (44 billion U.S. dollars) in direct economic losses. About 400,000 houses collapsed and 6.24 million residents were relocated, with the vast majority of disasters occurring since June.
Total damage in the first seven months of the year was much heavier than over the same period in recent years, Yang said.
Since June, natural disasters have left 833 people dead and 233 missing, the largest number of casualties over the same period since 2011. Disasters since June have caused an estimated 253 billion yuan in direct economic losses. Anhui, Fujian, Guizhou, Hebei, Hubei, Jiangsu and Jiangxi were the hardest hit regions.
Local governments in Hebei underestimated the intensity of the rain, failed to provide sufficient emergency response, and were late and inaccurate in disaster assessment, Yang said in response to the devastating flash floods that left 130 people dead and 110 others missing in Hebei last week.
"Torrential rain cut off local communication, power and traffic, resulting in delayed warnings about the impending deluge, failure to evacuate people in danger and failure to report casualties in time," said Yang, who has just returned from Hebei.
Five local officials had been suspended as of Monday for dereliction of duty during the deadly flood in Hebei as public outrage mounted, with many questioning why they were not informed of the floods and complaining that officials failed to organize an evacuation before the flood crested.a
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