China suffered several natural disasters in 2007, which led to heavy losses. In early March, rare snowstorms hit northeast and north China. On June 3, a 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck Puer region in Yunnan Province. In the first half of June, torrential rains swept across seven provinces in south China. In July, lower reaches of the Weihe River saw severe flooding, the second worst since 1954. In early July, Sichuan Province was drenched in heavy rainstorms and floods. On July 17, Chongqing Municipality suffered the worst rainstorm in 115 years. On July 18, Jinan City in Shandong Province was afflicted by the worst rainstorm ever recorded in the city’s history. At the end of July, heavy rains and floods wreaked havoc in Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Henan provinces. In mid-August, Typhoon Sepat pounded seven provinces in south China. From July to August, severe drought hit northeast China.
Natural disasters that hit China in 2007 had the following features: Several disasters tended to occur at more or less the same time, and floods and droughts often led to heavy economic losses; a large area was repeatedly hit by disasters; there was an increase in climate anomalies or extreme weather events; more typhoons were seen, but at a later time in the year, causing fewer causalities and lower economic losses; and some cities were hit by disasters, inflicting severe social damage.
In 2007, natural disasters caused 236.3 billion yuan worth of direct economic losses, down 6.5 percent. Disasters hit 48.99 million hectares of crops, up 19.2 percent, of which 5.75 million hectares of crops were demolished, up 6.2 percent. The year 2007 witnessed 9,260 forest fires, up 13.3 percent. There was no extra big forest fire. Floods and waterlog caused a direct economic loss of 82.6 billion yuan, up 46.9 percent, and left a death roll of 1,168, up 54.9 percent. Drought caused a direct economic loss of 78.5 billion yuan, up 10.9 percent. Oceanic disasters caused a direct economic loss of 8.84 billion yuan, down 59.5 percent. The occurrence of red tides hit an accumulative area of 11,610 square km, down 41.5 percent. China registered 25,000 geological disasters, which left a death doll of 598 and incurred a total direct economic loss of 2.48 billion yuan. The country recorded six earthquakes with magnitude 5 on the Richter scale and above, three of which caused disasters, leading to a direct economic loss of 2.02 billion yuan.
Floods and landslides, leading to 65 percent of the deaths from natural disasters, were the most deadly disasters in 2007, followed by hailstorms. The most common causes of deaths from natural disasters were drowning, thunder, landslides and mudslides, as well as collapsing buildings. The death toll from thunder in 2007 was the biggest ever, and the mortality rate of thunder victims increased to 25 percent in 2007 from 14 percent in the previous year.
Wenchuan Earthquake
A 8-magnitude earthquake jolted Wenchuan County, Aba Tibetan-Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province, at 14:28 on May 12, 2008. It was the worst temblor to hit the Chinese mainland in 30 years. Tremors were felt in 16 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities across the country. By 12:00 on May 26, a total of 65,080 people were confirmed dead in the quake, with 360,058 wounded and 23,150 missing. Survivors who were relocated to safe areas totaled 14,382,414.
After the earthquake, the Chinese Government activated its disaster relief mechanism immediately. President Hu Jintao, who is also general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and chairman of the Central Military Commission, urged rescuers to try every means possible to save survivors. Premier Wen Jiabao flew to the quake center within two hours of it happening.
On the evening of May 12, the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held an emergency meeting to make arrangements for relief efforts. It decided to set up an earthquake relief headquarters headed by Wen. Li Keqiang and Hui Liangyu were named as Wen’s deputies.
On May 16, President Hu arrived at disaster areas, visiting survivors and directing relief work.
The People’s Liberation Army and Chinese Armed Police Forces dispatched a total of 113,000 troops to take part in the disaster relief.
At the same time, people from all over the country and overseas Chinese actively donated money and materials to quake-affected areas.
On May 19-21, China held a three-day national mourning in memory of people killed in the Wenchuan earthquake. According to a decision of the State Council, flags at all national institutions in China and overseas were flown at half-mast and public entertainment activities were halted. China’s Foreign Ministry and diplomatic missions abroad set up condolence books for visitors to sign. At 14:28 on May 19, the nation held a silent vigil for 3 minutes, when cars, trains and ships honked their horns and air defense sirens were set off.
The international community extended condolences for China’s quake casualties. Many countries offered capital and material support to China’s relief efforts. Several foreign rescue and medical teams were also sent to severely hit areas in Sichuan.
A lot of foreign leaders and people paid homage to the quake dead in Chinese diplomatic missions in their countries. On May 24, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited Sichuan’s quake zone. Countries including Peru and Bangladesh also designated days of mourning to show respect for people killed in the Wenchuan earthquake.
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Bilateral Visits
