Every year there are big floods in China. This year is worse than usual.
In the past few weeks over 2000 people have lost their lives and 250 million people--almost one fifth of the entire populace of the country-- are said to be affected in one way or the other.
Almost 14 million people have been evacuated from their homes, more than 5 million houses are destroyed and 12 million are damaged. 20 million hectares of farmland are affected and 5 million hectares of crops are destroyed.
I received this letter from a reader:
Hello MSTKG,Could you perhaps tell people over the Internet how they can contribute (volunteer labour; donations of money, goods, services) to help the Chinese people and government with the consequences of catastrophic flooding along the Changjiang (Yangtze River)?
Leilani xxx
Dreieich, Germany
WORLD VISION HONG KONG
Tel: 2394-2394
Hang Seng Bank 286-364385-003
Hongkong Bank 018-377077-002
Or the Red Cross, also known in some countries as the Red Crescent.
RED CROSS
Tel: 2802-0021
Hang Seng Bank 267-175123-001
Bank of East Asia 514-40-39966-3
Hongkong Bank 567-650155-016
Bank of China 012-806-00001617
The above are the phone numbers for World Vision and Red Cross and their bank account numbers. You also could contact these organizations through information at their web sites linked to above.
These floods happen every year and their consequences are one of the true shortcomings of mainland China not being democratic. A year or two ago when the annual floods were going on I read a good piece in the wall street Journal that made the point that under a democratic system the people in authority who should be responsible for flood control would be kicked out and people who were competent and non-corrupt would gladly take on these positions of authority. A nation that can launch satellites could surely make sure dikes are strong and get a consistent river dredgeing operation going.
The great Inside China site has a piece on the floods. It's called Corruption, Fund Shortages Hamper China's Flood Control Efforts .
Also included in the above link are two other articles. One called China must Choose and talks about how the decision has been made to blow up selected dikes to flood rural areas rather than cities. A Chinese author, Dai Qing is quoted a lot who points out that these measures have not been reported in the PRC media. The article states:
The practice of forcing the countryside to bear the brunt of hardships in order to safeguard urban elites dates back to imperial rule, and has been continued by the Communist Party, say several Chinese scholars
Some of the 100,000 people evacuating the Shashi and Jinzhou area that will be flooded by dike explosions in an effort to keep Wuhan from flooding
And the third article is about the censorship that has begun surrounding flood information. The initial reports about the dikes being blown up was finally acknowledged by Communist party officials. But they are refusing reporters access to flood sites and detaining those who tried to go anyway without the official authorization.
Here's a collection of articles about the flood. It is not meant to be inclusive. It's big (~20 pages of articles from the last month or so).
And here are a collection of quotes from the articles.
"The government has distributed one month's supply of grain to each villager. After that, we do not know what will happen. Our last resort will be to hire ourselves out as labourers but jobs are scarce to come by," Chen said.But he said villagers understood they were not the only victims and he said they were not looking for the government to help. 7-19-98
"We have not received one cent. All we have received is six jin (three kilograms, 6.6 pounds) of rice for every household -- that's not even enough to feed a child," Li, a 63-year-old cotton grower, said.
"We have a good government. We know that the government has allocated relief funds but by the time it passes through each level of officials, we peasants get nothing," he said from his boat.
Another villager also surnamed Li said she had heard daily television reports that the government had sent relief funds to flood-hit areas.
"It is all lies. I don't believe it because I haven't seen the money," the 43-year-old woman said. "The officials live a good life but we ordinary people are really pitiful."
Li said the villagers did not want money from the government but wanted relief funds properly used to ensure there would not be any more devastation.
"We want the government to spend money to strengthen the dike so that this kind of flooding will not happen again," he said. 7-20-98
"Cases such as looting, robbery and stealing are on the rise, as troublemakers are taking advantage of the severe flooding," Li Weihe, director of the Public Security Bureau of Anxiang County in Hunan province told the Xinhua news agency.
"In the beginning of the flooding, when night fell some hooligans took boats to get things out of the water -- some even went into rooms to plunder," he said. 8-4-98
Prime Minister Zhu Rongji, who visited Wushimen on July 4 when the water rose above the danger level, became a local hero after handing out 10,000 yuan -- 13.66 yuan for each villager.
"He is really an excellent official. It is not the amount of money that matters but his gesture showed his sincerity," one villager said.
Yang Si, 73, a refugee at the Goddess of Mercy temple which sheltered 500 villagers at the height of the flood, said Zhu took his time to understand Yang's predicament. 7-19-98
Kuan Yin Goddess of Mercy
