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Millions suffer power, water cuts in China snow
2008-01-30
Millions of Chinese shivered through power cuts and water shortages on Wednesday and millions more were stranded by snow that has blanketed parts of central and southern China, raising concerns about their safety. About 50 people have died, including 25 on Tuesday in a bus crash on an icy mountain road, and Premier Wen Jiabao apologized to stranded passengers ahead of the biggest holiday of the year, the Lunar New Year, which starts on February 7. The unusually icy temperatures, snow and sleet blanketing much of central, eastern and southern China have crippled thousands of trucks and trains loaded with coal, food and passengers in the most severe winter weather for some parts in half a century. And the winter havoc was expected to last at least three more days, forecasters said. "Dealing with this snow disaster is even more complicated than tackling the floods of 1998 or other natural disasters we have faced," senior relief official Wang Zhenyao told state television. "We can mobilize millions of troops to fight floods, but at the moment we can't even fly anyone in to offer relief." Blocked roads and railways have choked coal shipments, magnifying energy shortages that have caused power brownouts in 17 of China's 31 provinces and province-status cities. Efforts to clear snow-clogged roads have been hampered by shortages of solvents, with producers in the snow-free north unable to send shipments south, the China Chemical Industry News reported. In the booming southern province of Guangdong, many power plants had just two days of coal left, the official Guangzhou Daily reported on Wednesday, and authorities were shipping in emergency supplies on a fleet of 125 cargo ships. More than 5 million people in the central and southern provinces of Hubei, Guizhou and Jiangxi have had water supplies reduced or cut off, and parts of Guizhou have spent two weeks without power, Xinhua news agency said. PREMIER APOLOGIZES Wen used a megaphone to tell train passengers stuck at Changsha station in southern China that he was sorry. "I am deeply apologetic that you are stranded in the railway station and not able to go home earlier," he said, promising to get them home for the Lunar New Year. But migrant workers in Guangdong were urged to abandon plans to go home for the holiday, also called the Spring Festival, when families travel vast distances to reunite. There were 400,000 people waiting in and around the main railway station in the provincial capital, Guangzhou, state television said. Although all airports previously closed by the snow have reopened, millions of people remained trapped on highways and crammed at train stations, where Xinhua said many are reluctant to cancel tickets, clinging to hopes of restored services. Analysts said the brutal weather was a short-term blow to the economy and would stoke inflation that already has the government worried. It hit an 11-year high of 4.8 percent last year. The National Development and Reform Commission, which steers pricing policy, said the price of cabbage and other staple vegetables has jumped by over 50 percent in snow-struck areas, and in some places rises have been much higher. (Additional reporting by Lu Jianxin in Shanghai and Guo Shipeng and Chris Buckley in Beijing; Editing by Nick Macfie and David Fox)
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