PLA sends 600,000 plus quilts, cotton-padded coats to disaster-hit areas

BEIJING, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has stepped in to aid disaster relief in the wake of some of the worst snow storms for 50 years with the issue of hundreds of thousands quilts and coats.

The PLA's General Staff Department and the General Logistics Department searched military warehouses across the nation for quilts to send to disaster-affected areas.

A total of 419,000 quilts and 219,000 cotton-padded coats were sent out, in response to a plea for help from the State Disaster Relief Committee.

In addition, the PLA General Armament Department transferred 5,300 sets of auto anti-skid chains from Wuhan, capital of central Hubei Province to Changsha, capital of Hunan Province Tuesday night.

Tian Yixiang, Senior Colonel in the PLA emergency response leading group, said: "We got a request for help from the State Disaster Relief Commission on Tuesday, and we got the materials to them overnight."

From Wednesday, the materials will be sent to the disaster-hit provinces of Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan and Guizhou, as well as Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region by train or track, he said.

Tian said the army has been in full swing to help local governments fight the effects of the weather.

"As long as governments need our help, we will make every effort to help," said Tian.

BEIJING, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese authorities have spared no effort in combating snow-inflicted woes and reducing the negative impact to the least extent as volatile weather continued to rage in a dozen Chinese regions on Monday. Full story

BEIJING, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- Heavy snow has killed 24 people in China since Jan. 10, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said here on Monday. Full story

BEIJING, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- Coal shortages have closed down more power stations with an aggregate capacity of up to 40.99 million kilowatts, said the State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) on Monday. Full story

SHANGHAI, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- Four expressways in Shanghai were closed Monday because of continuing heavy snowfalls in the past three days, according to the local authority. Full story

BEIJING, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- The China Meteorological Administration (CMA) early Monday issued a red alert for severe snowstorms forecast for central and eastern China.

Heavy snow is set to blanket northern Hunan, eastern Hubei, southeastern Henan, northwestern Zhejiang as well as most areas of Anhui and Jiangsu provinces on Monday, while some of these areas will expect snowstorms, according to the CMA.