The death toll in Hunan province, one of the worst-hit provinces
in the snow crisis that has gripped the country in the past three
weeks, has risen from 17 to 20 as the extreme weather continued to
wreak havoc.
Yang Mingbo, deputy director of the Hunan Provincial Department
of Civil Affairs, said 39.27 million people in the province had
been affected by Sunday and more than half a million people had
been relocated because of the bad weather.
The department had previously said 17 people have died in the
disaster by Thursday. The deputy director did not specify how and
when the three new deaths occurred.
The snow starting from Jan. 13 also toppled 82,000 houses,
damaged crops on 2.5 million hectares and froze 609,000 heads of
livestock to death, Yang added.
More than 3.5 million people faced shortages of drinking
water.
The disaster in Hunan, where the north-south arteries of
Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway and Beijing-Guangzhou Railway passed,
caused road traffic paralysis in some parts of south China, leaving
millions of people stranded.
Meanwhile, Chenzhou city in central Hunan, home to four million
people, has been without electricity and running water for more
than a week because of the severe snow that had damaged power
facilities and burst water pipes.
The local governments of Hunan has been providing quilts,
clothes, food and cash for the people affected by snow, including
1.43 million people stranded on highways and rails.
(Xinhua News Agency February 5, 2008)