Floods in China: Natural disasters or natural
disasters?
Floods have been raging in China for more
than a month. On July 12, at least 141 people
were killed or missing, about 34 million were
affected, and economic losses were estimated
at up to US $ 3 billion.
As of July 11, the country's hydro-meteorological
authorities issued a warning that heavy rains
cause flash floods every day in many parts
of the country.
Several meteorological stations along the
Yangtze measured excess water levels in 1998,
when major floods killed more than 4,000 people,
according to China Daily.
The report quoted experts as saying the risk
is particularly large in small and medium
rivers, where many dikes have not received
maintenance funding for years.
COVID and climate change
Heavy rains in China since June also exceeded
this year's average, according to hydrological
records. From 1-6 to 7-7, the average rainfall
along the Yangtze was 347mm, the second highest
in history (the highest in 1961) and exceeded
15mm compared to the 1998 flood, according
to the Center. National hydrometeorology (CMA).
31 national meteorological stations in seven
provinces, mostly in the middle and lower
Yangtze, recorded record high rainfall in
July. The highest rainfall measured was in
Hi Thuy district, Hubei province, 999mm. from
4 to 9-7.
East Asia Rainy Season this year - which the
Chinese called the "Mai Vu", "the plum plum
rain" (Do Mai's "Mai Vu" poem with the phrase
"Truong Giang Station Station of the Past,"
Sacrifice of the Future Dance) (Truong Giang
rolls, dusty with rain and dust)) usually
takes place in June and July throughout the
middle and lower branches of Yangtze (ie Truong
Giang).
This year, the "ripe plum rainy season" began
5-7 days earlier than usual in southern China,
according to the CMA, and instead of ending
as usual in the upper week of July, the rain
has lasted until mid-month, putting serious
pressure on flood control efforts along the
Yangtze.
Chinese experts also said that the control
measures to prevent the COVID-19 epidemic
contributed to complicating the flood situation
this year. In the past, local governments
were responsible for investment in small and
medium-scale flood control projects, most
of which were earthen embankments.
However, in the first 6 months of this year,
the budgets of many local governments were
suddenly overloaded due to disease outbreaks,
preventing dyke repair and flood response
to proper investment.
Although the Chinese central government has
invested in these projects in the national
flood control program in the main rivers that
began in 2009, repairs and reinforcement need
to be done continuously.
Meanwhile, environmental organization Greenpeace
believes that extreme weather events such
as those in China will become a new normal.
"The violent rain is not accidental. We can
clearly see the climate change factor behind
the recent floods," Greenpeace said in a statement
on July 13. According to the China Climate
Change Green Book 2019, from 1961 to 2018,
there was a steady increase in disaster events
due to "heavy rain" in China.
Especially since the mid 1990s, the situation
of prolonged heavy rain occurred more and
more intense. The green book also noted that
from 1951 to 2018, the annual average temperature
in China increased by 0.24 degrees Celsius
every 10 years - much faster than the global
average in the same period.
The Ministry of Irrigation said the average
rainfall for the first six months of this
year in this country was 292mm, 7% higher
than previous years.
Yang Fuqiang (Duong Phu Cuong), senior expert
on climate change and energy policy of the
Beijing-based National Defense Council on
Natural Resources, said water management would
be meaningful. decide to combat climate change
in China in the near future.
"Climate change will lead to increasingly
heavy and severe rainfall in the south while
drought raging in northern China ... All will
negatively affect domestic agricultural production"
- Mr. Duong to speak.
Life scene in the flood
According to information on 13-7 of the Ministry
of Irrigation China, the country began to
enter the rainy season from June, some localities
have appeared severe floods.
Until now, the water level of 433 rivers has
exceeded the alarming level, of which 109
are within the permitted range, 33 have a
record high water level. The people of this
country have to go through hardships because
of rain.
Nghi Xuong District, Hubei Province is considered
as the gateway to Tam Hiep, with low east-west
high ground, located in low-lying areas, flanked
by hills and mountains.
In recent years Nghi Xuong has become one
of the places heavily affected by the rain
and flood of Truong Giang. Over the past few
weeks, people have moved to hotels arranged
by the neighborhood. Evening at the hotel,
clean the house in the morning, that is their
life.
Mr. Duong's family (over 70 years old) lived
in Nghi Xuong, during the June 27 flood, the
floods flooded the entire house nearly 2.4m,
the whole family was short of losing the life
after being isolated for nearly 1 hour. in
flood waters.
His neighbor, Mr. Ha, also had a similar situation,
his furniture had been damaged for several
days. His son bought 8 cans of powdered milk
for him and he could not use it. Despite being
arranged in a temporary hotel and assisted
with cleaning, Mrs. Ha could not help but
feel sorry when she thought about the house.
Earlier this year, because of the epidemic,
the whole family was stuck in the countryside
of Chongqing for a long time, very difficult
to return to Yichang, just about to start
working again, but less than a month, the
disaster scene.
The old house was also flooded in 2014, and
the walls are now damaged. "Now I don't know
if I should fix my house? What if it is safe
to have a flood after flooding? Is it safe
to stay here?" - Ha worried about the issue
of Tan Dan (Shanghai).
Phan Duong District, Thuong Nhieu City and
Jiangxi Province are also heavily affected
by floods.
The daily rainfall in Lien Hoa Mountain, Phan
Duong District reaches 538mm, which is higher
than Beijing's average annual rainfall of
532mm, according to nbd.com.cn. Huynh Tu Ich
still does not forget the horrible scene that
day, the basement of his three-storey house
punctured a big hole, rushing water into the
house.
Within five seconds, the whole house collapsed
into the river, the next four houses also
poured in. Mr. Huynh's family just rebuilt
a house in 2014, costing 1 million yuan (1
currency is equivalent to 3,500 dong), had
to borrow everywhere, then went to the city
to pay off the debt, only to return to the
countryside in late 2019 to open it. scrap
station, buy three business trucks.
Now the car was swept away, and the house
collapsed. "I keep thinking about the hometown,
life will be better, unexpectedly, in the
blink of an eye, I will have nothing," Huynh
Tu Ich sadly told Nam Phuong Urban Newspaper.
Heavy floods on July 10 also damaged 3,000
tons of tea from a tea enterprise in Steam
County, Anhui Province, costing 90 million
yuan. When Trinh owner, when he came to the
factory, saw the scene of the devastation
after he flooded in front of CCTV cameras,
he was worried about not paying anything for
the farmers, because he wanted to help farmers
to consume but the factory bought a lot of
tea. than every year, so the losses are huge.
The news made many netizens feel sorry for
this country. It is known that out of more
than 190 businesses in the Steam District
Economic Zone, up to 100 enterprises were
damaged, the flooded area was 3.8 km2. Immediately
after hearing the news, the armed police stationed
at Hoang Son sent people to help the tea factory
clean and dry the tea, supporting the factory
to quickly restore production.
When the Tan An River hydroelectric dam flooded,
Zhejiang also had to relocate hundreds of
thousands of people, the fish industry in
Thien Dao Lake lost 15 million yuan / day,
because the fish were swept away with the
current; while the tourism industry lost 180
million yuan in two days of flooding when
24 piers were submerged in water 6-8m high,
this is only an incomplete statistic in the
Tien Giang Evening.
According to China Daily, Jiangxi province
alone lost 8.13 billion yuan in floods from
July 1 to July 12.
A netizen, after watching the news about the
tea factory, acknowledged Trinh's boss as
a conscientious and responsible person, and
the comment was time to think about why China
is constantly suffering from natural disasters.
decades or hundreds of years of history appear;
Why are natural disasters, rural areas and
farmers always the ones who suffer the most?
