BEIJING, China – Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for efforts to reduce the consequences of this year’s devastating flooding, which has killed scores of people and destroyed crops, homes, and infrastructure, especially in and around Beijing.
According to state media, at least 90 rivers have risen above warning levels, and 24 have already overflowed their banks, threatening flooding in a vast area of northeastern China, including the Songliao Basin north of the capital, which encompasses more than 1.2 million square kilometers (482,200 square miles) and a population of nearly 100 million.
“As China is still in the main flood season, rainstorms, floods, typhoons, and other disasters continue to occur frequently in many places across the country,” the Xinhua News Agency said, summarising the party’s all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee meeting presided over by Xi on Thursday.
Participants “urged relevant localities and departments to always prioritise the safety of people’s lives and property, and to keep doing a good job in flood prevention and disaster relief,” according to Xinhua.
Dam reinforcement and the efficient use of disaster relief funding to “repair damaged infrastructure such as transport, communications, and electricity, as well as restore farmland and agricultural facilities” are critical, according to the report.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for efforts to reduce the consequences of this year’s devastating flooding.
Schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and damaged dwellings must be quickly restored “to ensure that affected residents can return home or move to new homes before the winter.”
Flooding this year has also damaged large areas of the country’s central and eastern regions and the semi-tropical south and northern plains.
Much of China is experiencing a very wet summer, with flooding killing 142 people in July and dozens more this month.
Thunderstorms, gales, and hail are expected to hit sections of Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Hebei, Beijing, and Tianjin in the north, as well as Henan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and Fujian in the center and southeast.
Residents have been advised to limit their outdoor activities and seek shelter.
The extreme weather comes as economic growth fell to 0.8% in the three months that ended in June from 2.2% in the previous three months. This equates to an annual rate of 3.2%, among China’s worst in decades.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for efforts to reduce the consequences of this year’s devastating flooding.
According to a June poll, urban workers aged 16 to 24 unemployment reached a new high of 21.3%. This Thursday, the statistics office announced that it would suspend updates while it updated its measurement.
Xi asked for patience in a speech recently published by Qiushi, the party’s premier theoretical journal, as the party seeks to reverse the worsening economic recession.
This happened hours after data released Tuesday revealed that consumer and factory activity fell further in July despite government promises to help ailing businesses. The government avoided providing an update on a politically sensitive increase in youth unemployment.
SOURCE – (AP)
