http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/07/23/beijing-storm-death.html

Deadly floods in China raise questions about infrastructure

The Associated Press
Jul 23, 2012

As China's flood-ravaged capital dealt with the aftermath of the heaviest rain in six decades Monday, including the deaths of 37 people, questions were being raised about whether the city's push for modernization came at the expense of basic infrastructure such as drainage networks.

Rescuers were still searching buildings that collapsed during Saturday night's torrential downpour and some roads that were covered in waist-deep water remained closed. The city government said as of Sunday night, 25 people had drowned, six were killed when houses collapsed, one was hit by lightning and five were electrocuted by fallen power lines.

Beijing residents shared photos online of submerged cars stranded on flooded streets, city buses with water up to commuters' knees and cascades of water rushing down the steps of overpasses.

Nearly 57,000 people were evacuated from their homes and damage from the storm reached at least 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion), according to a report by the Beijing Daily newspaper on the Beijing government website.

Although the worst-hit areas were in rural hilly outskirts of the city, the scale of the disaster was a major embarrassment for Beijing, China's showcase capital where things like this are not supposed to happen.

The city has seen tens of billions of dollars poured into its modernization, including iconic venues for the 2008 Olympics, the world's second-largest airport, new subway lines and dazzling skyscrapers all while basics like water drainage were apparently neglected.

Many were left wondering how badly prepared other less-prosperous parts of China must be.

"If so much chaos can be triggered in Beijing, the capital of the nation, problems in urban infrastructure of many other places can only be worse," said a commentary in Monday's state-run Global Times newspaper. "In terms of drainage technology, China is decades behind developed societies."

The criticism mirrors some of that seen after a high-speed train crash that killed 40 people in Wenzhou in southeastern China a year ago Monday. That turned into a public-relations nightmare for the government and led many to question the quality of infrastructure in the country and the government's transparency on disasters.

Heaviest rain in more than 60 years

Some pointed out that Saturday's deluge was historic in nature, with the Global Times noting it was the heaviest rainstorm in the capital in 61 years.

"In just one day, it rained as much as it normally rains in six months in Beijing," said Zhang Junfeng, a senior engineer from the Ministry of Transport who runs weekend tours of Beijing reservoirs and gives lectures on water conservancy. "No drainage system can withstand rains this big."

The capital's skies were clear Monday, with traffic largely back to normal and the city's main airport operating normally after hundreds of flights were canceled or delayed over the weekend. But hard-hit areas were still feeling the effects.

In Qinglonghu, a village about 40 kilometers from downtown Beijing where many migrant workers from surrounding provinces have settled, at least two dozen brick homes were flooded. Local residents said Monday they were terrified to go back into their homes for fear they would collapse. They said they were sleeping outside, had no drinking water or food and had yet to get any assistance from local officials.

At least three people from the village were believed killed, residents said, including a man crushed by a falling power line and a woman and her 8-month-old baby who were washed away.

"No one wants something like this to happen," said Cao Fuxiang, the woman's cousin. "Life is so difficult. We left our town to make some money and now she has disappeared."

Piles of dirt from a large construction site in Qinglonghu appeared to have formed a dam that kept the downpour from draining into a river, worsening the rain's damage. Other areas around Qinglonghu appeared minimally affected.

The village is in Fangshan district, the worst-hit area of the city, which received 460 millimetres of rain on Saturday.

Some Beijing residents complained that the city government was too slow in warning residents about the rain and said much of the information they received had come instead from the Internet.

"The government should provide more disaster-related education to the public and precautions for extreme weather," said Dong Liming, a professor at Peking University's College of Urban and Environmental Sciences.

Heavy rain also proved deadly elsewhere in the country. Fifteen people were killed and 19 remained missing in disasters linked to the rainstorms in Hebei province next to Beijing, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing the provincial civil affairs bureau. Six people were killed by landslides in Sichuan province in the west and four died in Shanxi province in the north when their truck was swept away by a rain-swollen river. At least eight people died and 17 were missing due to storms in neighboring Shaanxi province, and six people were killed and two were missing in Yunnan province in the south.



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Krinvanto Vishwam Aryam
(Make this World Noble)

- Rigveda


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http://www.morningwhistle.com/html/2012/PoliticsSociety_0726/213234.html

China censors Beijing floods coverage

July 26

Beijing authorities have reportedly ordered Chinese media to stick to positive news about the weekend floods, after at least 37 deaths sparked fierce criticism of the government, Agence France-Presse reported on Tuesday.

Beijing publicity chief Lu Wei told media outlets to stick to stories of "achievements worthy of praise and tears", the Beijing Times reported, as authorities tried to stop accusations that they failed to do enough.

Censors also deleted microblog posts criticizing the governments response to the disaster in China's rapidly modernizing capital, which came at a time of heightened political sensitivity ahead of a once-a-decade political transition this fall.

Tuesday's Beijing Daily said that the citys new party leader Guo Jinlong urged journalists to "correctly guide public opinion", code words in China which mean to only portray the government in a positive light.

"The news media has played a very good role in promptly reporting developments in emergency response operations, and playing a role in boosting morale," Guo was quoted as saying.

Guo, Beijings incumbent party leader, resigned from the Beijing mayor position at a conference on Wednesday, the official Xinhua News Agency said. But the resignation was generally believed a follow-up process after his promotion to party leader instead of assuming responsibility in the flooding. Guo has been promoted to Beijing party leader on July 3.

Beijing police chief Fu Zhenghua also told the official China News Service Tuesday that China will crack down on people who use the internet to produce and spread political rumors and attack party and state leaders and the government.

Many Beijing residents took to social media like microblogs, or weibos, to complain that some of the deaths could have been prevented if better warnings had been issued and the city's ancient drainage systems modernized.

A call by the Beijing government for donations to an emergency flood relief fund was also criticized by Weibo users, with many ridiculing the authorities for asking ordinary people to pay for the damage.

On Tuesday, over 72 000 postings on Sina Weibo focused on a call for donations by Beijing civil affairs department were deleted, AFP said.

Beijings urban areas were hit with an average of nearly nine inches of rain over 16 hours on Saturday the heaviest in the Chinese capital in six decades, causing 37 deaths and 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) in economic losses.

According to the Beijing government, the deluge has killed 37 people with 25 drowned, six killed as a result of collapsed structures, five electrocuted and one struck by lightning.

Beijing Daily quoted Guo as saying any increases in the death toll should be reported immediately, amid suspicion that the authorities may be underplaying the impact of the floods.

"The focus of our rescue work and news coverage must now be moved toward the suburban areas, especially those areas severely hit by the disaster like Fangshan," Guo said.

Fangshan residents on the mountainous southwestern outskirts of Beijing said the government was doing little to help find their missing family or friends, according to AFP.

"The government doesn't help at all, every family is responsible for searching for their own family members," Wang Baoxiang, whose 30-year-old nephew had been missing since going out in Saturday's rains, was quoted as saying.

According to official assessments released on Monday, seven people remained missing, but in the badly hit Fangshan district, locals said at least 10 people were missing in one small village, AFP said.



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Krinvanto Vishwam Aryam
(Make this World Noble)

- Rigveda


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And this took place in Beijing and its surroundings. Ouch.

Oneman has to resort to online shopping now. He'd die of embarrassment if and when he steps out of his farm in Utah.

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Sad for the died, so far 77 bodies were found, among wich 11 is still not identified. Searching is continuing since most of the deaths happened in mountainous area, but no new died body was found in the previous day. So the toll number will not have big changes. All identified victims' names were made public.

Before natural disaters, Chinese are still luckier than dumb Indians. One rain in Mumbai killed more than 1000. Dumb Indians are still laughing at China.

Ya but India is a poor country, right? So hundred people dying here or there shouldn't matter to anyone.

China on the other hand is a developed soopa powaa counwee so this is quite embarrassing man. I honestly didn't expect this to happen.

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Everyone will keep telling dumb Indians: China's infrastructure is light year ahead of India.

EXACTLY! Which is why Beijing shouldn't have been flooded with its soopa infwastwuchurr. LOL

Idioms aside, do you even know what a light year is? Or its value?

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let's just admit, india is way, way, way ahead of China....China is only about to catch up with india...lol

them indians...l1o1l1o1l1ol

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let's just admit, india is way, way, way ahead of China....China is only about to catch up with india...lol

them jealous indians...l1o1l1o1l1ol

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Shanghai statistics at work again !

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/beijing-residents-compile-own-death-toll-in-flooding-reflecting-mistrust-of-city-government/2012/07/26/gJQAZctRAX_story.html

China raises Beijing storms death toll to 77 from 37 after public questioned outdated tally





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Krinvanto Vishwam Aryam
(Make this World Noble)

- Rigveda


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The dumb Indian, China never said 37 was the final number, that's the deads were found at that time. Even the 77 is not the final number. Beijing is not just a city like Mumbai, it has rural areas. The most of deaths happened in the mountainous areas due to mudslides.

7 people were killed in Beijing's urban areas.

Do you remember thousands were killed in Mumbai urban areas only because of a rain?

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1673340/Whats-Beijing-flood-death-toll-Chinese-officials-f

What's Beijing flood death toll? Chinese officials 'fudge the truth'

27 Jul 2012

BEIJING It was last Saturday when the heavens opened above the Chinese capital, bringing the most deadly rain storm to hit here in at least six decades. Now, five days later, the municipality of Beijing has finally updated the death toll, which officially stood Thursday at 77, including five rescue workers, according to Caixin media.

But just getting credible -- and updated -- casualty numbers was itself becoming part of the story. After days of being lambasted by the public and media outlets, Beijing authorities still failed at their second press conference on Wednesday to update the figures of the victims. Not only did the total death count stay at 37 despite widespread reports of more victims, the names of the known dead were not provided.

When reporters shouted: We want the figure of the dead, the spokesman exited and the debriefing was abruptly adjourned. This has caused a public uproar as well as triggering a critical opinion piece today in the Peoples Daily, the Chinese Communist Partys mouthpiece, the United Daily reported.

Chinese officials have repeatedly shown a tin ear in these kinds of disasters. The Beijing rainstorm occurred almost exactly one year after the major high-speed train accident near Shanghai where authorities also tried to cover up the total death toll. The scale of past health crises have been downplayed or outright lied about.

The Beijing city governments director of information declared earlier this week that: We have learned from the experience of the SARS epidemic of 2003 (in which Chinese health authorities also hid the truth for days) and we know we have to be transparent this time, according to the United Daily.

Because of the reluctance to give the official figures, in the last few days rumors have been rampant. In the hardest hit Fangshan district, rumors circulated that the district alone had lost 100 lives.

As Caixin media points out, there was widespread shock that Ding Zhijian, a man in his prime, was drowned in his car on a main road. This could have happened to any citizen. And this is the true reason why people are so concerned with his story and the authorities attitude.

The public remains unconvinced of the newly publicized figure as reports abound of victims bodies being washed away, without being counted or identified.



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Krinvanto Vishwam Aryam
(Make this World Noble)

- Rigveda


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