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| Bilis Death Toll Rises to 518 |
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Guangdong Province reported on Saturday 36 more fatalities from tropical storm Bilis, raising the total death toll to 518.
Latest statistics show that 99 were dead in Guangdong Province, 346 killed in Hunan Province, 30 in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and 43 in Fujian Province. Since Bilis landed in China last Friday, 33 counties and six cities across Hunan were hit by rainstorms, floods, landslides and mudflows, affecting 7.29 million people. The province evacuated 800,000 people from dangerous places. In Zixing City alone, which is under the administration of Chenzhou, 197 people were confirmed dead with 69 missing. The breakdown of communication and traffic systems caused great difficulty for the civil affairs department to collect information on deaths and damage, Luo Xiwu, deputy secretary of the Zixing City Committee of the Communist Party of China, told Xinhua. And the officials did not shift their work focus from rescue and relief to death toll headcount and damage investigation until rainstorms stopped and floods receded, Luo said, adding that such a death toll of floods was "unprecedented" in Zixing. Zhan Xiao'an, director of Hunan provincial flood control headquarters, said that power supply, and communication and traffic systems in some flooded areas have not been resumed. Local rural people's preference to live near rivers and mountains was partly to blame for such a mass death in the province, Zhan said. The provincial government urged on Friday governments at all levels to overcome difficulties and try to gather and check information on deaths and damage. Officials who try to hide death toll will be punished, provincial authorities said. Hunan is a water-and-rainfall rich province with thousands of rivers and lakes creating a climate system of humid weather and long rain season per year. The Ministry of Civil Affairs also issued an announcement on Friday, warned local officials not to cover up death tolls from the disaster. By Friday, at least 100 people are still missing and 26.45 million people have been affected in the country's southern and eastern areas, including Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangxi, according to the ministry. Nationwide, the heavy rains and floods have toppled 212,000 houses, damaged 287,000 houses and forced 2.95 million local residents to move to safer places. The central government has earmarked hundreds of millions of yuan for rescue and relief in disaster-ravaged areas. As Bilis dies down, the storm-ravaged regions will experience a major heat wave over the coming week, according to local meteorological stations. (Xinhua News Agency July 22, 2006)
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