Alert
China - No. 15/2009
Geneva, 7 July 2009
Flooding and heavy rain in Southern China has forced hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate their homes and has killed over 75 people. (Source China Ministry of Civil Affairs, 5th July) The most severely affected areas include: Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Jiangxi Province, Hunan Province, Hubei Province, Guizhou and Chongqing. The heaviest rainfall has been experienced in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, affecting 33 counties and 1.43 million people. The heavy rains that have raged for the past four days have destroyed homes, flooded crops, cut power supplies, damaged roads and caused the Yangtse and Huai rivers to overflow. The direct economic loss is estimated at 13.02 billion yuan (over US 190 million dollars). Rains are forecasted to continue for the next three days which may cause further damage.
China Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Civil Affairs have allocated 126 million yuan (18.4 million US dollars) for relief assistance in the six severely affected areas of Guangxi, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing and Guizhou. A total of 5,200 tents and quilts have also been distributed by the government to affected populations in Guangxi, Hunan and Jiangxi.
The Ministry of Agriculture has set up and deployed teams to Jiangxi, Hunan and Guangxi to provide technical support to local villages, to prevent further damage. Local government authorities are also providing financial and human resources to assist the affected populations, with evacuations, and in supporting the logistics efforts for distributing relief materials.
ACT member Amity Foundation is closely monitoring the situation in communication with local partners in Guangxi, Guizhou and Hunan who are currently undertaking assessments of the damages and needs of vulnerable communities. Amity is in the process of carrying out fundraising in-country and also preparing an appeal to respond to the situation.
According to the information collected by Amity local partners, affected people are in urgent need of rice, blankets, tents and clothes. In view of the level of damage, Amity sees the need to provide support in the rehabilitation of damaged or destroyed houses, agricultural recovery, and rebuilding of community facilities such as irrigation systems. Amity expects to target approximately 20,000 families or approximately 100,000 individuals in its response and is currently preparing a preliminary appeal.
Any funding indication or pledge should be communicated to Jessie Kgoroeadira, ACT Finance Officer (jkg@act-intl.org).
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ACT is a global alliance of churches and related agencies working to save lives and support communities in emergencies worldwide.
The ACT Coordinating Office is based with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Switzerland.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
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