President Hu Jintao has ordered the military to spare no
effort in disaster relief, as severe weather conditions have been
forecast to continue nationwide.
President Hu Jintao on January 31, 2008, asks
the miners to produce as much coal as they could safely to provide
more fuel for generating electricity amid a nation-wide
shortage.
Since Hu's call on Wednesday, five large military transport
airplanes have been deployed to Guizhou province and the Guangxi
Zhuang autonomous region, and more than 100 other planes and
helicopters are standing by.
Across the country, 250,000 army troops and the Chinese People's
Armed Police, and 770,000 paramilitaries have been dispatched to
help in regions most affected by the disaster.
Meanwhile, Premier Wen Jiabao returned to Hunan province, the
hardest-hit area, on Friday afternoon, just three days after making
a surprise visit to sites where tens of thousands of people were
stranded at railway stations, expressways and airports.
The top priorities at present are to "repair the transport
facilities to ensure smooth road and rail traffic, guarantee
electricity by restoring power grids as soon as possible, and ease
the public - in other words, settle people's issues, particularly
the food, heating and health concerns of the stranded passengers,"
Wen told local authorities.
On Friday morning, just before he left for Hunan, the premier
chaired an urgent executive meeting of the State Council to discuss
the national situation of relief work.
"The most difficult time has not passed," he said.
But a senior official in Beijing assured the public on Friday
that the serious losses the disaster had caused the economy would
be temporary.
Zhu Hongren, deputy department director in charge of economic
operation under the National Development and Reform Commission
(NDRC), told a press conference the economy will remain stable in
the long run.
"The government will do what it can to send all people stuck in
trains, on expressways and at railway stations back home.
"Local governments will also ensure that those who choose to
stay where they work for the Spring Festival enjoy a happy holiday
season," he said.
Soldiers load quilts and winter clothes onto
trucks in snow in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province to
transport the materials to blizzard-hit provinces. More bad weather
was forecast for China's central, southern and eastern regions
which were already paralyzed by record-breaking cold and
snow.
Responding to rising concerns of possible price hikes in the
coming weeks, Zhu said the government will strengthen the
monitoring of prices and organize the transportation of products
accordingly.
The icy rain and snowstorms since Jan 10 - China's worst in
decades - have caught the nation by surprise.
As of Thursday, the harsh weather had caused direct economic
losses of 53.8 billion yuan ($7.5 billion), and affected 19
provinces, regions and municipalities.
Despite swift and intensifying inter-ministry collaboration,
power supply problems remain common.
Sixty people have died and two are still missing in the affected
regions, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
The State Council has set up an emergency command center to
fight the disaster by guaranteeing power supplies and coal
transport. The center is responsible for coordinating 23
ministries, major enterprises and industry associations involved in
the disaster.
(China Daily February 2, 2008)
