China to deploy military helicopters in snow disaster relief work

BEIJING, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Bad weather has caused such disruption in mountainous areas of southern and central China that the government has ordered the deployment of military helicopters to aid disaster relief work.

"The winter storms have caused more damage than other disasters such as the flooding in 1998. Since some hard-hit places are in mountainous areas it has been difficult for local governments to launch a relief campaign," said Wang Zhenyao, director of the disaster relief department at the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

"The situation in some mountainous areas of Hunan, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangxi, Guizhou provinces and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is more serious comparatively, as the continuing snowfall has paralyzed transportation," said Wang.

"The large number of passengers traveling home to celebrate the coming New Year festival, which starts on Feb. 6 has made the whole thing even worse," he added.

China's railway officials had estimated a passenger flow of 178.6 million over the holiday period.

Up to now 158,000 army troops and the Chinese People's Armed Police (PAP) and 303,000 paramilitary members have joined the relief effort, and nearly one million police have been dispatched to keep traffic in order on China's road network, which in many areas has been paralyzed by the harsh weather.

BEIJING, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is urging local authorities to regard disaster relief as the "most pressing task" and to make "all-out efforts" to ensure normal production and life in areas hit by unprecedented bad weather this month.

The call came after a politburo meeting here on Tuesday, chaired by Chinese President Hu Jintao, which studied the effects and damage inflicted by icy rain and snowstorms and made plans for future relief work. Full story

BEIJING, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has rushed to Hunan to help with the central China province's disaster relief work following an unprecedented snowfall.

Wen flew out of Beijing on Monday night but had to land at Tianhe Airport in neighboring Hubei Province because of the bad weather in Hunan. He then completed his journey by train and arrived in Changsha City, the provincial capital, on Tuesday morning. Full story

BEIJING, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA) and Ministry of Finance on Tuesday allocated 98 million yuan (13.5 million U.S. dollars) to four rain and snow-hit provinces to help those affected.

The two ministries have so far provided a total of 126 million yuan in financial aid to six provinces hit hard by icy rain and heavy snow.