NANCHANG, May 16 (Xinhua) -- One woman has died and another four are missing after a rain-triggered landslide hit a tree farm in east China's Jiangxi Province Thursday morning, local authorities said.

Five female workers were buried in the landslide, which happened between 3 and 4 a.m. at the Wanling tree farm in Da'e township of Xinfeng County, the provincial flood control and drought relief headquarters said in a statement.

As of 2 p.m., rescuers had found one body and were still searching for the missing four, the statement said.

On Monday 13 May, continuous rain and consequent floods have affected more than 3.47 million people in 204 counties and cities in 12 provincial-level regions.

Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the provinces of Hunan and Guizhou are the most affected regions.

A total of 19 people reported dead, 187,000 are in urgent need of resettlement and assistance. The rain has toppled some 5,000 houses, damaged another 46,000 and destroyed 26,900 hectares of crops.

By NANG MYA NADI

State officials and political parties in northern Shan state are trying to convince residents to return to their villages after thousands of locals fled from their homes after fighting erupted between the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S) and the military earlier this month.

Last week, approximately 2,000 locals from 19 villages fled as hundreds of Burmese soldiers launched an assault on a SSA-S position near the Sino-Burmese border. Many of the villagers reportedly crossed the border into China.

English.news.cn | 2013-05-12 19:02:16 | Editor: Tang Danlu

BEIJING, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese state councilor Wang Yong has called for an improvement of disaster relief and prevention capabilities to protect people's lives and properties in the country.

Wang made the comments at a National Committee for Disaster Reduction meeting on Sunday, which is also China's fifth Disaster Prevention and Reduction Day.

BEIJING, May 13 (Xinhua) -- A fresh round of heavy rain hitting south China since May 6 has resulted in 19 deaths and left one person missing, according to an initial tally from local civil affairs departments.

As of 7 a.m. on Monday, continuous rain and consequent floods have affected more than 3.47 million people in 204 counties and cities in 12 provincial-level regions, with 187,000 people in urgent need of resettlement and living aid.

98% of all displacement in 2012 was related to climate- and weather-related events, with flood disasters in India and Nigeria accounting for 41% of global displacement in 2012.

English.news.cn 2013-05-11 18:01:26

NANCHANG, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Rainstorms have battered southern and eastern China over the past five days, killing six people in Hunan Province, local authorities said Saturday.

Contiuous strong rain started to hit the central China province on Monday killing six people, the Hunan provincial flood prevention and drought control headquarters said.

As of Saturday, rainstorms have affected about 850,000 people, toppled more than 2,200 homes and forced 14,000 citizens to relocate in Hunan.

William Ide
May 11, 2013

SICHUAN, CHINA — The loss of life from China’s 2008 Wenchuan earthquake was tremendous, and many young students were among those killed when schools toppled. Some victims are still trying to recover, with the assistance of volunteers who have taken up residence in the newly rebuilt schools.

Wei Ling recalls she was in chemistry class when the Wenchuan earthquake struck.

On May 9, 2013, the sixth batch of relief supplies has been distributed in Shangba Village, Lingguanzhen, Baoxing County by Jinde Charity. Linguanzhen is located between Lushan county and Baoxing County, about 10 kilometers away from the latter. It is separated from the outside world because of the geographical nature and frequent landslides along the way. It started raining on the evening of May 8 and did not stop at the time when the supplies arrived. The tracks carrying supplies were caught in landslide passing Tongtou canyon and were almost hit by the flying stones.