Staff
and volunteers from the provincial Red Cross branches in Zhejiang
and Fujian sprang into action on 10 August as Typhoon Saomai
slammed into southeast coastal regions, forcing more than a
million people to evacuate.
Saomai, the strongest typhoon to hit China’s mainland
in 50 years, destroyed an estimated 50,000 homes in the region
and severely disrupted power supplies and communications.
Local Red Cross volunteers and staff responded immediately by
distributing emergency relief supplies, including blankets,
clothes, medicine, disinfectant and other basic necessities
to people made homeless by the disaster.
"The storms were so violent they destroyed countless homes
in a matter of minutes,” said Alistair Henley, the International
Federation’s Regional Head of Delegation for East Asia
in Beijing. “These areas keep getting hit by one storm
after another and it’s taking a heavy toll on the population,
especially rural farmers.
“When natural disasters strike, people in rural areas
not only lose their homes and crops, but also their sources
of income, with little or no available resources to recover…
so the current situation is leaving them highly vulnerable,”
Henley added.
On 2 August, the International Federation launched an emergency
appeal for almost six million francs ($4.8 million USD/€3.8
million) to assist vulnerable families affected by the flooding
and contributions to that appeal are still welcome.
So far, the provincial Red Cross branches have distributed roughly
1.8 million yuan ($220,000 USD) worth of relief items and financial
assistance to the victims of the flooding.
Saomai is the eighth powerful storm to hit China in 2006, resulting
in some of the worst floods seen in recent years. So far, natural
disasters have killed almost 1,700 people in China this year
– the highest casualty figure since 2001.
Throughout the affected areas, the Red Cross Society of China,
with the support of the International Federation, is actively
responding to the situation by helping with evacuations, providing
first aid, distributing relief items and ensuring that communities
are as prepared as possible when disaster strikes.
Media contacts for Asia Flooding:
Helena Laatio, Regional Information Delegate in Beijing: Tel.
+86 139 117 106 35
Anna Nelson, Media Officer for Asia & the Pacific: Tel.
+41 79 724 20 46
Media Service, duty phone (out of hours) Tel. + 41 79 416 38
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A
young man tries to walk across a flooded street in Shaoguan,
south China's Guangdong province. (REUTERS, Paul Yeung,
courtesy www.alertnet.org)
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