China Mourns At Least 1200 Mudslide Deaths as Storms Forecast in Southwest
China mourned the deaths of more than 1,200 people killed in a mudslide caused by heavy rains last week as storms are forecast to hit China’s southwestern Sichuan basin.
The State Council, China’s Cabinet, and the Ministry of Culture ordered flags lowered to half-staff and all public entertainment suspended today to pay respect to victims of a landslide in Zhouqu County in Gansu province Aug. 8. A total 1,239 people are known to have died and 505 are missing in the northwestern province after the mudslide. A mourning ceremony was held at Zhouqu near the debris at 10 a.m. local time today.
Chinese President Hu Jiantao, former president Jiang Zemin, and eight standing members of the political bureau, the Communist’s Party’s top decision body, joined the nation in lamenting victims this morning in Beijing, the China Central Television reported. Thousands have died in mudslides and floods this year as downpours inundated regions across China.
The death toll in rainstorms that began Aug. 11 in Longnan City of the province rose to 33 with 63 people missing, state- run Xinhua News Agency reported today.
Rainstorms will hit the northern area of the Chongqing municipality, parts of Hubei and Hunan provinces by tomorrow morning, the meteorological center said in an e-mailed statement.
China’s Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters issued its third-highest alert yesterday after heavy rains and floods from rivers hit the provinces of Gansu, Sichuan, Shandong, and Shaanxi Aug. 10 to Aug. 13.
Heavy Rains
The storms have affected 3 million people and 667,000 hectares of crops, causing estimated losses of 11.3 billion yuan ($1.7 billion), the office said.
The meteorological center, keeping its rain alert at the lowest Blue level today, also forecast heavy rains in parts of Shaanxi, Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu, Guizhou, Yunnan, Tibet, Guangdong and Hainan provinces.
While some regions brace for further downpours, the meteorological center issued its second-highest alert for high temperatures for some provinces in the south, according to the e-mailed statement today.
Chongqing municipality and the provinces of Hunan, Jiangxi, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian may face temperatures as high as 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) starting at 6 a.m. local time today, it said.
--Belinda Cao. Editors: Paul Tighe, Malcolm Scott.
To contact the reporter on this story: Belinda Cao in Beijing at lcao4@bloomberg.net
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