Rainstorms kill 21 in south China region
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-06-21 14:02
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 (2.625
million U.S. dollars) 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 (14.5
million U.S. dollars) 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.
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