Authorities in south-west China on Wednesday appealed for medicine, food and water as they struggled to cope with the aftermath of ferocious storms that left 169 people dead, 67 missing and thousands sick or injured.
”What we need most is food, drinking water and medicine. The demand for them is very large,” said an official, surnamed Liu, at the Sichuan provincial disaster relief bureau.
”Many items have been soaked by water and the food, medicine and clothes which people have can’t be used.
”We are trying to get deliveries from other places but the affected areas are very big and we are short of personnel to carry out rescue work.”
Torrential rains have been pounding the area since last Thursday, triggering widespread landslides and flooding. Many areas are still without fresh water and electricity.
Hundreds of thousands of homes have been either destroyed or damaged.
Liu said so far 89 people were confirmed dead in Sichuan and 41 were missing, most of them crushed by collapsing buildings or swept away by floods.
”Some 10 880 people have been injured or are sick,” she added.
In neighbouring Chongqing municipality, the death toll also crept higher.
”In Chongqing alone we now have 75 dead and 25 missing,” said He Lingyun, vice-director of the Chongqing disaster relief office.
”There are 2 513 people who have either been injured or are sick. The death toll may rise further,” he said.
Yunnan province has also been hammered by rains, leaving five people dead and another one missing, flood control officials said.
”All the sick and injured in Chongqing are being taken care of. Some have been evacuated,” said He.
Sichuan’s Liu said disease is becoming a problem with no fresh drinking water in many areas.
”The other serious task is epidemic prevention work,” she said.
”The situation is serious because after big floods infectious diseases quickly appear so we are focusing on this issue.”
The Sichuan provincial health department said most of the sick it is seeing are people with stomach and intestinal problems caused by drinking polluted water.
Xinhua said medical outposts are being set up around the region to watch for outbreaks of epidemic diseases and dish out medicine.
The Chinese Red Cross has mobilised teams to the area but the International Red Cross said it has yet to receive a call for help.
”We have sent relief materials to the area worth more than 300 000 yuan [$36 000], especially tents, disinfectants and clothes,” the Chinese Red Cross said in a statement.
While clean-up efforts were getting under way with the help of more than 5 000 armed police, other problems were arising.
In Chongqing’s Wanzhou county a mudslide blocked the upper reaches of the local river, threatening people in the lower reaches with flooding if the blockage bursts or is breached.
”We have had to evacuate people. We are digging trenches to drain the water which is rising fast,” said He.
Chongqing, however, escaped the biggest flood crest on the Yangtze River this year, which passed through the municipality without major incident.
It is now heading towards Hubei province where officials said they are on 24-hour high alert and have reinforced reservoirs, Xinhua reported.
More moderate rain is forecast for the region, according to meteorologists.
”We must not be off guard,” warned Chongqing mayor Wang Hongju.
At least nine injured in quake
Meanwhile, an earthquake measuring five on the Richter scale struck north-western China’s Gansu province, injuring at least nine people and destroying scores of buildings, state media said on Wednesday.
The epicentre of the earthquake on Tuesday night was in Gansu’s Minxian county, about 150km south of the provincial capital, Lanzhou, the official Xinhua news agency said.
Local officials were still trying to assess damage in remote towns and villages, most of which were in mountains at an altitude of 2 700m or higher, the agency said.
An earthquake measuring 5,2 on the Richter scale struck the same area last November, killing one person, injuring 30 and destroying about 20% of the simple wood and adobe buildings in the worst-affected villages, it said.
Minxian is about 1 200km south-west of the Chinese capital, Beijing. — Sapa-AFP, Sapa-DPA
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