BEUING: A half-million soldiers and 2 million reservists have been thrown into the battle against some of the worst floods in China in several decades, and, with the rainy season just beginning, officials are braced for even more devastation.
About 1,000 people are reported to have died so far as a result of the flooding, which has caused serious problems in 18 of China’s 30 provinces, particularly Jiangsu, Anhui and Zhejiang.
Millions of Chinese have been stranded, hundreds of thousands of homes destroyed and millions of acres of crops washed out, according to press reports.
Tens of thousands of businesses have been put out of action and rail and highway transportation in some areas has been stalled,
Officials are beginning to express fears about the possible spread of epidemic diseases.
Taiwan’s Red Cross this week donated $200,000 to help the flood victims. Several other nations and the United Nations added more than $700,000 in aid.
Chinese officials have released 370,000 tons of grain from state storage to feed several million flood victims in Anhui and Jiangsu provinces.
The flooding has been caused by torrential rains from June 1 through last week that have brought half that area’s average annual rainfall. More flooding is expected during the typhoon season that comes to China’s east coast in July and August.
Officials have tackled the flood devastation with military means and, as always, an eye on turning the disaster into a political lesson.
In the city of Wuxi, just west of Shanghai, an army brigade was reported to have heroically formed “a human dam” to hold back part of a river bank on the verge of collapse.
Touring flood-stricken areas in Anhui province, Jiang Zemin, head of the Communist Party, advised that the Chinese people “can overcome any natural disaster, if only they rely on the leadership of the party, on the socialist system and on the wisdom and strength of the people”.
And if that was not enough, Li Ximing, Beijing’s party chief, instructed relief workers to find inspiration for their efforts in the works of Chinas revolutionary founder.
Mao Zedong. a4
San Francisco Chronicle
Article extracted from this publication >> July 19, 1991
