Special
Report: Spring Festival Special
2008
Special Report:
China's war on snow
havoc
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A policeman keeps order in a temporary waiting area outside the ticket office in Changsha railway station in Changsha, capital of south China's Hunan Province, Feb. 10, 2008. The number of passengers in Changsha railway station increased Sunday due to migrant workers and travellers who visited relatives and friends in locality. It is estimated that the first Post-Spring Festival traffic peak will start on Feb. 11 and last four days. The railway station has already taken measures to regulate the passenger flow. (Xinhua Photo)
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BEIJING, Feb. 11 (Xinhua)-- China's government task force
tackling snow snarl alerted on Sunday night the transportation situation
remained grim as the new travel peak loomed, despite of the initial victory
achieved.
We have reaped the final victory of ensuring smooth
transportation amid snow after major highways and railways have resumed normal
order, the Disaster Relief and Emergency Command Center under the State Council
said in a notice.
The overall situation, however, remained very grim as
the nation braces for Lunar New Year return traffic peak and a mass of goods and
materials which give way to emergency coals, are edgily waiting for
transportation, the task force said.
Early preparation should be made to guarantee smooth
transportation in the face of another round of precipitation and snow in south
and southwest China in the next 10 days.
China is expected to see a peak of railway traffic on
Feb. 12, the last day of the Chinese Lunar New Year break, said the Ministry of
Railway on Sunday.
Post-Spring Festival railway traffic peak saw more
than five million passengers in one day last year and we expect even more this
year, predicted the ministry.
Highway transportation except has returned to
normalcy. Some 28.1 million people have been carried by major expressways and
highways on Sunday, up 6.05 million over the previous day.
Some 4,291 flights carrying 535,000 passengers took
off on Sunday, 23,000 more than a day earlier.
Efforts are going on to meet demands of power and
coal. The stockpile of power coal has reached 22.12 million tons, enough to fuel
national power stations for 11 days on average.
Coal shipment hit new high in northern China ports.
The four major ports in the area shipped a record 1.409 million tons of coal on
Saturday, an increase of 79,000 tons from a day earlier.
By Sunday, the State Grid has restored power supply
to 22.12 million households, or 92.7 percent of the affected total.
The South China State Grid has issued a special order
urging its rescue teams to be fully aware of the risks and take every measure to
ensure work safety.
The order asked workers to be cautious when repairing
the highly risky power lines and strictly check the safety measures before
taking operation.
Traffic basically back to
normal
BEIJING, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- Traffic in disaster-hit China
has largely been back to normal, with only a few highway sections still being
closed due to frozen road surface, the Ministry of Public Security said here
Saturday.
Traffic was smooth on the Beijing- Zhuhai expressway, a
north-south trunk road. Full story
China's snowstorm-hit areas recovering
gradually
BEIJING, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- Life in
snowstorm-hit areas in south and east China provinces is gradually returning to
normal as disrupted transport and power supply being resumed and living
conditions improved day by day, according to the latest release on Saturday by
the disaster relief and emergency command center under the State Council. Full story
All affected airports reopen after
snow disaster
GUIYANG, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- An airport in the
southwestern province of Guizhou resumed operation on Friday, marking the
normalization of China's entire airport services after disruption by snowstorms.
Liping airport in Guizhou reopened at noon after ice
thawed from runways and other weather conditions recovered, according to the
airport administration. Full story
