Quake-hit China now menaced by landslides and floods
Pastor Dale Morgan
Quake-hit China now menaced by landslides and floods*
By Chris Buckley
Reuters
Monday, June 16, 2008; 3:53 AM
BEIJING (Reuters) - Thousands of victims of China's earthquake are
moving to escape a new threat from rain-triggered landslides, officials
said on Monday, while floods battered the nation's southern trade
powerhouse.
The May 12 quake centered in the southwest province of Sichuan killed at
least 70,000 people and shattered slopes in the mountainous region,
parts of which have seen heavy rainfall.
With continued tremors jolting hillsides, officials have decided to
relocate 50,000 residents at risk of landslides in Wenchuan County, the
epicenter of the quake.
"Continued tremors and multiple strong tremors have constantly caused
shore collapses and mudslides on fragile slopes in Wenchuan County, and
damaged houses have constantly collapsed in the tremors," the Xinhua
news agency reported.
Last week, county officials told threatened residents to move to safer
areas, and troops had relocated 3,000 by Monday, Xinhua reported. All at
risk must be moved by the end of June, before the rainy season starts in
earnest.
An earlier state television report said 70,000 quake victims would be
moved to avoid the landslide threat. The Xinhua report did not explain
the discrepancy.
FLOOD MENACE
Already reeling from the quake, China has also suffered floods across
its south that have killed 57 people and forced 1.27 million to move to
safer ground in recent days, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
The national meteorological service warned that the 5,500-km
(3,400-mile) Yellow River flowing through the north might also see
"quite large" floods this year, Xinhua reported late on Sunday.
Heavy rain likely in the next few days would "increase the
destructiveness of flood hazards and make the flood prevention and
relief situation nationwide even more serious," Xinhua cited the
authority as warning.
The Yellow River, China's second longest after the Yangtze, has
experienced devastating floods in the past, but in recent decades has
been more prone to water scarcity.
This year's floods have been especially heavy in Guangdong, the far
southern province that is home to many of the country's export businesses.
By Sunday, 20 people in Guangdong had died in the floods, eight were
missing, and more than 4,800 houses had collapsed, provincial flood
officials told Xinhua.
Close to 240,000 Guangdong residents were shifted to safer ground,
including 60,000 in Shenzhen, the trade hub next to Hong Kong, the
provincial water resources office said, according to the official
Southern Daily.
Officials estimated that economic damage from the floods across
Guangdong amounted to 3.8 billion yuan ($540 million), much of it to
farms and fisheries.
Forecasters warned that fresh storms could also lash parts of the
Yangtze River delta region, a major manufacturing centre near Shanghai,
and parts of provinces across the east, south and southwest.
Storms also recently brought havoc to Hong Kong, where they sparked
flooding and landslides and resulted in closed roads and delayed flights.
The flooding and foul weather is the latest in a string of disasters to
befall China this year. Many of the same provinces were paralyzed by
freak cold weather in January and February.
(Reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Nick Macfie and Roger Crabb)