Disaster Situation
Floods, landslides and hails resulted
from severe rainstorms and hailstorms since the end of May affected more
than 16 provinces including Hunan, Guangxi, Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou,
Xinjiang.
Since 18 June, there are severe rainstorms in central and northern part of Guangxi Province. Flooding, landslides and mountain torrents have left some 6.9million people affected, 39 people dead, 26 missing, 816,000 people evacuated and an economic loss of RMB 1.63 billion in the province, according to statistics of Ministry of Civil Affaires of China as at 24 June 2005.
In Hunan, as reported by the Hunan provincial branch Red Cross in late June, more than 10 million people were affected, 102 people dead, 45 missing and about 350,000 people homeless or evacuated caused of the severe flooding. Flooding destroyed as many as 90,000 houses and inundated 380,000 hectares farmland.
Red Cross Action
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) Headquarters and Hunan provincial branch have sent an assessment team to the affected areas to assess victims'needs. Relief materials valued RMB 1,350,159.50 including water purification tablets, disinfectants, clothes, tents, quilts, blankets, mineral water were handed over to 8 highly affected counties in Hunan, for basic sanitation in disaster areas and support victims' basic needs. In Guangxi, the RCSC and Guangxi provincial branch responded immediately to the needs of 58,334 beneficiaries by distributing relief items: 20 tons of rice, 1,000 boxes of water purification tablets, 5,000 sets of clothing and, 2,000 quilts.
Besides visiting Hunan and Guangxi province, the Hong Kong Red Cross has remitted RMB 200,000 to RCSC for procurement of rice beneficiating about 5,000 victims in these provinces. We keep close contact with the RCSC to monitor the development of the disaster, while further actions will be decided accordingly.