[lifesaviors] 2.4 million relocated to flood precations in China. Questions??
- From: <lionkuntz@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: Palaces4People@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 7 Oct 2003 00:13:51 -0700 (PDT)
2,400,000 people relocated, flood precautions. What is
the quality of the replacement housing? How much did
it cost? How does it compare to Palaces For The People
"High & Dry" flood security plan? What is the cost of
the lost productivity? How many man-years of totally
unnecessary flood disruption? How fast is the
"bounce-back" recovery.
See photo:
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/media/image/launched/2003-10-06/a401.jpg
A "waist-high flood" raise in water should not
displace anybody, nor destroy anything. When one lives
on the "Water Planet" one learns to adapt to the ways
of water. Palaces is that adaptation: it is time we
all learn it.
Four news items follow below:
===============================
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2003-10/05/content_1110863.htm
Nation relocates 2.4 million people ahead of floods
www.chinaview.cn 2003-10-05 11:33:13
BEIJING, Oct. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- China has since 1998
moved 620,000 families, or 2.42 million people, from
their homes in the Yangtze River Valleys to make way
for river water.
The year 1998 witnessed the worst floods of the
Yangtze River for decades, which prompted China to
take active measures to alleviate flood damage.
In 1998, China started building floodwater diversion
projects and turning farmland into lakes in Hunan,
Hubei, Jiangxi and Anhuiprovinces in the Yangtze River
Valleys, which led to massive re-locations.
As a result, the water surface of the Yangtze's
trunk stream and Poyang and Dongting lakes has been
expanded by about 2,900 square kilometers, which helps
increase floodwater storage by 13 billion cubic
meters, according to the China International Committee
for Natural Disasters. Enditem
===============================
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,4386,213292,00.html
Beijing faces huge deficit but forced to spend
China is staring at a huge budget shortfall, no thanks
to Sars, floods, earthquakes and costly projects
By Mary Kwang
GUANGDONG'S lychee growers took a hit in the pocket -
a hard one - because of the Sars outbreak earlier this
year.
TRIPLE WHAMMY: China's cashflow is taking a hammering
on three fronts: Sars; natural disasters such as
severe drought in the south, floods (above) and
general inclement weather; and costly projects such as
the 2008 Olympics.
Exports to Japan, a big market for them, slumped
because Japanese quarantine inspectors suspended
visits to the province, a major lychee producer, where
the Severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) virus is
believed to have originated. The lychee growers were
only a small part of the rural population affected by
Sars.
Across the country, rural per capita income slipped by
35 yuan (S$7.30) between April and June this year at
the peak of the Sars crisis.
The drop is significant given that the quarterly
average income per person in the countryside was
around 580 yuan in the first half of the year,
according to data provided by the State Bureau of
Statistics.
But rural folk are not the only ones in dire financial
straits.
The central government too has found itself staring at
a huge budget deficit this year, no thanks to Sars,
natural disasters like floods and earthquakes and some
hugely expensive projects.
The only way out is to borrow. However, as it sinks
deeper into debt, it will face increasing pressure to
review its present policy of pursuing economic growth
and other national objectives at the expense of an
ever widening deficit.
And with eventual full convertibility of the yuan,
widely seen as inevitable because of the opening up of
its financial sector under the terms of its World
Trade Organisation membership, it will also have to
exercise greater fiscal discipline.
The ballooning deficit is just one of China's many
serious economic problems which outsiders mesmerised
by all the talk about its being the 'factory of the
world' tend to overlook.
But much as Beijing worries about the deficit, for
now, it has, in some instances, no option but to
spend.
For example, to prevent another Sars outbreak and curb
other infectious diseases, it will have to raise 11
billion yuan this year and improve health care
facilities in the countryside.
But the other side of the ledger does not look
promising. Beijing is bracing for a drop in revenue,
not least because of tax concessions granted to
hotels, airlines and other businesses hit by the Sars
outbreak.
This explains why even as early as May, Finance
Minister Jin Renqing thought it prudent to warn that
it would be more difficult for the central government
to achieve the fiscal targets announced just two
months before.
The projection in March was that the budget deficit
this year would hit 319.8 billion yuan, itself already
a record. Now, it is almost certain to be much more.
So concerned about the fiscal deficit is the Ministry
of Finance that on Aug 3, it repeated Mr Jin's message
that spending would rise in the second half of the
year while revenue could slow down.
It said that apart from Sars, spending would rise
because of prolonged drought and severe floods in
several parts of the country.
According to the Civil Affairs Ministry, more than 90
million people, and 6.8 million head of livestock,
were affected by the recent drought in 12 provinces in
southern and eastern China, the worst experienced in
30 years.
Furthermore, the worst floods since 1991 inundated
parts of Anhui, Jiangsu, Henan, Hubei, Shaanxi,
Jiangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, Guangxi, Zhejiang, Hunan
and Chongqing.
In Shaanxi alone, more than half a million people were
evacuated when the Weihe, the largest tributary of the
Yellow River, overflowed in the past two months. All
told, the floods there cost the province 6 billion
yuan and affected 4.4 million people.
Even areas spared the floods were affected by
inclement weather.
Around Wuwei city in Anhui province, the Li family
planted cotton but heavy rain prevented the crop from
maturing.
'They couldn't harvest because it wouldn't grow,' said
Ms Qin Wenxia, a relative.
According to a Ministry of Civil Affairs estimate,
this year's natural disasters inflicted total economic
losses of 151 billion yuan. The ministry had to spend
2.7 billion yuan on rescue and relief.
On top of all these, there are also other demands on
national coffers.
Among the big-ticket items are China's maiden manned
space flight, the 2008 Olympics, a South-North water
diversion project, a Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail
link, military modernisation, welfare for the growing
hordes of the unemployed and recapitalisation of
state-owned banks.
To fund these, the central government plans to sell a
record 615.4 billion yuan in treasury bonds this year,
4 per cent more than last year's 592.9 billion yuan.
This will also help to refinance 295.6 billion yuan of
maturing debt.
Beijing cannot be sanguine about the rising deficit
and debt. In 1996-97, China's fiscal deficit stood at
0.78 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product. It surged
to 3 per cent last year.
Officials argue that the ratios of government debt to
the GDP and the budget deficit to the GDP are still
below internationally recognised danger levels.
However, if the non-performing loans of state-owned
banks and social security liabilities are taken into
account, the deficit could be over 70 per cent of GDP,
past the 60 per cent level of most developed
countries.
To be fair, the central government has taken steps to
rein in the deficit although some of them are seen as
inadequate.
Significantly, it decided to slow down defence
spending, approving only a 9.6-per-cent rise this
year, the lowest after 13 years of double-digit
increases.
Local governments were also told to curb extravagance
and to trim the number of overseas trips abroad,
meetings and forums.
However, analysts such as Associate Professor Li Kui
Wai of City University said Beijing was caught in a
bind.
'The Chinese government cannot stop spending,' he
said. 'The deficit is a result of expenditure demands
like infrastructure, the space programme and social
security.'
He said that tough political and economic decisions
like scaling back spending on national projects had to
be made by the top leadership if it really wanted to
balance the budget.
He also said there would be more discipline once the
yuan became convertible. 'At present, China's money
supply is not linked to anything,' he said, adding
that this in a way lulled Beijing into spending
freely.
At present, between economic growth and a balanced
budget, it would invariably choose the former as it
has to create jobs for the growing army of the
unemployed and ensure social stability.
But despite GDP growing at 7-8 per cent each year
since 1998, this has not been sufficient to create
enough jobs for those laid off and new job market
entrants.
In the end, apart from more prudent spending, raising
more revenue is the only other effective way to narrow
the gap.
The central government has taken steps to ensure more
efficient collection at all levels.
But as Dr Frank Song, director of Hong Kong
University's Centre for China Financial Research and
an adjunct professor at Beijing University's China
Centre for Economic Research, put it, its best hope is
that as the economy grows, increased revenue will
cover the deficit.
===============================
http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2003/10/7/latest/14404Floodinga&sec=latest
Flooding affects 100,000 in China
BEIJING (AP) - Persistent flooding along China's
mighty Yellow River in recent days has affected at
least 100,000 people in two provinces, the
state-controlled China Daily newspaper reported
Tuesday.
The national ministries of finance and civil affairs
joined to allocate 10 million yuan (US$1.2 million) to
help with relief work in the areas - central China's
Henan province and eastern China's Shandong province,
the newspaper said.
It said one county was given 500 tents and another
1,000 to house affected people.
The newspaper didn't say, however, what it meant by
"affected'' or whether the people's homes were
destroyed when the flooding hit late last month.
Yellow River runoff has submerged 4,000 hectares
(9,900 acres) of farmland in 17 villages in Henan's
Lankao County, China Daily said, while the river's
waters are still flooding Shandong's Dongming County.
So far, 96,800 people in 130 villages in Dongming
County have been impacted by the flooding, and 12,000
hectares (29,500 acres) of farmland have been
submerged with an average 1.5 meters (more than 4
feet) of water, China Daily said.
Both serious flooding and drought plague China
annually.
In northern China this week, relief officials said
more than 105,000 people had been moved to temporary
shelters after their homes were destroyed by the
swollen Wei River.
Authorities were trying to drain flooded areas to
allow people to return to their villages and rebuild
homes before winter. - AP
===============================
http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=21476
Malaysia, China under water
Mail & Guardian, South Africa -- 05 October 2003 09:19
More than 10 000 people fled their homes on Sunday
after three days of incessant rain sparked massive
floods in northern Malaysia. Also, flooding along
China's mighty Yellow River and one of its tributaries
has forced 238 000 people to flee their homes in
northern China, while another 11 000 people in east
China must be relocated.
In Malaysia, most of those evacuated were from
villages and towns in the northern states of Penang
and Kedah, where flood waters as high as 5m submerged
homes and disrupted train services, a spokesperson for
a flood-monitoring centre said on condition of
anonymity.
No casualties have been reported, though The Star
newspaper said an eight-year-old boy was missing after
he was last seen near a swollen river.
About 11 000 flood victims were staying in state-run
relief centres on Sunday, with the figure expected to
rise as heavy rains continue, the national news agency
Bernama reported.
Tropical downpours that trigger flooding in Malaysia
are common during the monsoon season, affecting tens
of thousands of people every year, usually between
November and February.
In China, about 300 000 people in Weinan city in north
China's Shaanxi province have been relocated as
continuous heavy rain since September 27 has caused
flooding along the Wei River, a tributary to the
Yellow River, said a local anti-flood official.
The official said of the people moved, 105 000 people
have been relocated in Weinan city's smaller Huayin
city, while another 133 000 people have left their
homes in Hua county in Weinan city.
"The fifth flood crest on the Wei River this season
has arrived a few days ago and has not passed yet, but
it has stopped raining and the weather is sunny," said
another official, Ji Dan, with the Hua county flood
control office.
"There are no deaths or injuries so far."
The Huashang newspaper said on Sunday Huayin city, the
most endangered in the area, had dispatched 45 000
people to patrol the river's dikes each day.
About 500 labourers and 400 People's Liberation Army
soldiers have also been dispatched to repair problems
on the dikes, it said.
Recent rains have left protective dikes saturated and
in some places damaged after downpours at the end of
August.
More than 20 000ha of farmland in the Huayin area have
been flooded, the newspaper said.
Only weeks earlier, half a million of Shaanxi
province's inhabitants had to be evacuated from the
river's rising waters.
In east China's Shandong province, dike breaks along
the Yellow River have forced 11 000 people to be
relocated in Dongming county. So far only 5 900 have
been moved, an official with the county flood control
command centre said.
The dikes broke on September 18, causing 247 square
kilometers of farmland to be flooded, the official
said.
The ruptured dikes still have not been fixed and water
was steadily rushing out from a 200m-wide opening at a
rate of 2 500 cubic meters per second, the Beijing
Star Daily said.
The Xinhua news agency said on Saturday more than 86
000 people in the Shandong area are facing the threat
of rising floodwaters due to dike breaches.
Water pouring through the burst dikes has surged
through low-lying areas of eastern Shangdong province,
endangering the lives of residents in 127 villages,
Xinhua said.
It quoted local officials saying floodwaters in
low-lying areas have risen 3,5m. -- Sapa-AFP, Sapa-AP
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