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The State Council Information Office on
Friday held a press conference on contingency measures for coal, oil and
power supply, transportation and disaster relief in snow-hit areas.
Leading officials from the National Development and Reform Commission, the
Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Railways, the Ministry of
Communications and the General Administration of Civil Aviation attended
the press conference. (Xinhua Photo)
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>>>Joint press conference on
Feb. 1<<<
BEIJING, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) --
China is no stranger to natural disasters, but the heavy snow that strangled
much of the country over the past three weeks could be one of the most memorable
because of its scope, duration and impact. Millions, perhaps tens of millions
have been suddenly thrown back to an era without most modern conveniences and
economic losses stand at about 53.8 billion yuan (7.5 billion U.S. dollars).
MASSIVE DISRUPTION
More than 160 counties and cities in central China have had blackouts and
water shortages. Chenzhou, a city of 4 million in Hunan Province, has been
without power and water for a week. Even the radio has fallen silent.
"Radio and telecom services stopped. I feel like it is the end of the
world," said a taxi driver surnamed Lu. He said it had been very difficult to
fill the tank of his vehicle because many gas stations without power generators
were forced to close.
The worst snow in five decades has so far killed 60 people and forced
nearly 1.76 million people to relocate. Nineteen provincial regions and the
Xinjiang Production and Construction Corp. have reported losses from the crisis,
which toppled down 223,000 houses and damaged another 862,000, said Zou Ming, an
official with the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou, Guangxi, Jiangxi and Anhui were the worst hit
regions. The central government has allocated 331 million yuan to fund local
disaster relief work, he said.
CONTINUING SHORTAGES
"The snow has taken a toll on the Chinese economy," said Zhu Hongren,
deputy director of the Bureau of Economic Operations with the National
Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
Most parts of China remained very short of electricity amid severe coal
shipment disruptions and physical damage to the grid caused by the prolonged
snow, rain and cold weather.
As of Jan. 28, the country had experienced a power gap peaking at nearly 40
million kilowatts as a coal shortage cut power generation at some plants,
according to the State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC).
The State Council, or the cabinet, has established a command center to
coordinate contingency measures for coal, oil and power supply, transportation
and disaster relief in snow-hit areas, said the NDRC's Zhu.
On Friday, the Ministry of Railways started a 10-day emergency coal
shipping campaign, vowing to ensure a daily thermal coal delivery of more than
40,000 cars during the campaign, said Zhao Chunlei, a railway ministry official
in charge of train scheduling.
"Coal stockpiles are stable and increasing, with small margins. But the
reserves at major power plants are still below the level of last October," said
Zhu Hongren.
The deputy director said that some areas could experience "continued
shortages" because of transport disruptions and he added that the top priority
was to "ensure the stability of prices".
Cole and other vegetables, oranges and wheat, in particular, suffered
severely from the snow, according to the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA).
The public has started to feel the pressure of short supplies as vegetable
prices escalated across the country.
In Changsha, Wuhan and other hard-hit cities in the southern, central and
eastern regions, vegetable prices have more than doubled. Areas not directly
affected by the snow, such as Beijing and the southern Guangdong Province, have
also seen price rises.
CHAOTIC TRANSPORT
Passenger transport has also been seriously disrupted as an estimated 2.2
billion intercity movements are planned by Chinese heading home for the Spring
Festival. Some travelers use a combination of methods to make each leg of their
journey, accounting for the large figure.
From Jan. 25 to 31, a total of 5.8 million passengers were stranded
throughout the railway system and more than 8,000 cargo trains were affected,
said Zhao of the railways ministry.
Civil aviation authorities said on Thursday that more than 3,250 flights
had been cancelled during the six days through noon on Wednesday.
Bad weather also forced 380 planes to be diverted and delayed 5,550
flights, the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) said.
However, airlines still carried 3.17 million passengers from the nation's 52
major airports between Jan. 23 and29, up 11.8 percent from a year earlier, by
flying larger planes.
China sets up command center to deal with snow
disaster
BEIJING, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- China's Cabinet has
established a command center to coordinate contingency measures for coal, oil
and power supply, transportation and disaster relief in snow-hit areas, said the
National Development and Reform Commission on Friday.
The center, with its office at the commission, involves 23
Party and government departments and organizations, including watchdogs on
traffic, public security, finance, health care and information as well as armed
forces and energy giants. Full
Story>>>
