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ACT Update
ASCN21/01
ACT
assists flood victims in China
Geneva,
June 28, 2002
The death toll related to the floods has risen to more
than 450. But media reports state that up to 750 people are feared
to have perished. The floods devastated large parts of the country.
The Amity Foundation (AF), an ACT member, is assisting victims of
the floods in Ningshan County in the mountainous south of Shaanxi
Province and in Jialing County in the hilly north eastern part of
Sichuan Province. AF is distributing food (instant noodles, food rice)
and non-food items (quilts and mosquito nets) as well as helping with
the reconstruction of houses.
As it is still early in the flooding season, which usually
lasts till September, there is fear that more people could die this
year than in 1998, when the worst flooding in half a century killed
at least 2,000 people. More than 57 million people have already been
affected by the flooding, says the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs,
explaining that the floods have hit a vast section of the country,
from Shaanxi in the north through to Sichuan to the south-west and
Fujian and Jiangxi provinces to the south-east.
ACT issued an Appeal at the end of June with a target
of about
US$ 500,000. As noted in the appeal, the heavy
rains in June caused some of the worst flooding ever experienced in
central and western China. Many towns, villages and even cities in
the western areas were submerged. The flooding caused extensive damage
to crops (more than two million hectares) and property. Hundreds of
thousands of people were left homeless. Roads, communication, water
and power supply facilities were severely damaged in most affected
areas and in some counties totally paralysed.
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