Rainstorms, floods, landslides and mud flows have claimed 74
lives in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality and east China's
Shandong Province, in the past week, the Ministry of Civil Affairs
said.
The two places have never experienced such heavy rainfall in
recent history. Severe damage has been caused to their
infrastructure, transportation and telecommunications.
More than 6.8 million people have been affected, and estimates
show the two have suffered a combined loss of at least 4 billion
yuan ($526 million).
In Chongqing, forty-two people were killed and 12 are reported
missing. About 300,000 people have been evacuated.
The rains caused 30,000 houses to collapse and 78,000 were
damaged. About 192,500 hectares of crops have also been
destroyed.
"The rainstorms intensity and poor drainage systems are to
blame," He Zhiqiang, chief of the technology department of
Chongqing Municipal Facilities Bureau, said.
"As Chongqing is a mountainous city, the size, slope and length
of underground drainage systems must be designed in accordance with
its specific geographical layout.
"But some construction teams have designed the drainage systems
arbitrarily and have used substandard materials," He said. "It is
very difficult for departments in charge of municipal facilities to
dig up roads to repair the system because of heavy traffic
flow."
Sun Chunming, an expert in dredging at the Chongqing Municipal
Facilities Bureau, said substandard drainage systems were common in
the city. He said design of the drainage systems need to be
improved.
(China Daily July 21, 2007)