Quake survivors among million forced to flee homes by floods
Pastor Dale Morgan
Quake survivors among million forced to flee homes by floods*
* Jonathan Watts in Beijing
* The Guardian,
* Tuesday June 17 2008
More than a million people in southern China have fled their homes
because of floods that have killed 57 people, adding to the misery of
last month's earthquake in Sichuan.
Seventy thousand quake survivors were among those evacuated to higher
ground as storms dumped huge volumes of water into already swollen
rivers. The worst affected area is the manufacturing hub of Guangdong
province, where the Pearl River delta is suffering what officials said
was the worst flooding in 50 years.
In the past week the average daily rainfall in the province was double
the record and reached 41.5cm (16.3in) in one 24-hour period. Rivers
burst their banks, killing 20 people, forcing the suspension of more
than 10,000 businesses and causing economic losses estimated at 3.8bn
yuan (£250m).
The worst may be yet to come. More storms are forecast in Guangdong and
the neighbouring provinces of Fujian and Guanxi this week. "A major
flood is feared if rain continues," Huang Boqing, the deputy director of
Guangdong flood control and drought relief, was quoted as saying in the
China Daily newspaper.
Across China the floods have affected more than 18 million people,
damaged 902,000 hectares (2.3m acres) of farmland and destroyed 45,000
homes, according to the state-run media.
In February southern China suffered the worst ice and snow storms for
decades. Last month the Sichuan earthquake killed more than 70,000 people.
Some quake survivors are having to move for the third or fourth time
this year. Tens of thousands of residents of Wenchuan, the township at
its epicentre, are being relocated due to fears that unstable mountain
slopes may be prone to mudslides during storms over the next few days.