(1) Vice Premier JIANG Chunyun Warns of "Disaster Year"
[CND, 07/20/97] Vice Premier JIANG Chunyun warned on Thursday that "China
may experience a year of disasters which are likely to occur
simultaneously," AFP reports. According to the State Drought Prevention
and Flood Control Office, a record 20 million hectares (50 million acres)
of farmland have been hit by drought in the north, while 4.4 million
hectares (11 million acres) have been flooded in the south. The autumn
harvest accounts for 70 percent of China's annual grain yield, and ZHANG
Xinmin, who heads a team from the bureau's rural social economy
department, expected that there would be a decrease in grain production.
(Ximin TANG, Guochen WAN)
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(2) Landslides in Sichuan and Guizhou Provinces Killed 80
[CND, 07/17-18/97] AFP reported quoting the Xinhua news agency that
thirty-one people have been killed and five injured in a landslide in
Panxian County of Guizhou Province in the early hours of July 15. Another
landslide occurred two days later in Xingwen County of Sichuan Province,
killed at least 48, and injured 29. It was said that both landslides were
caused by heavy rainfalls. (Ray ZHANG, WU Fang, Guochen WAN)
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(3) Heatwave Hits Northeast China, Causing 50 Deaths in Tianjin
[CND, 07/16/97] Suffering symptoms caused by the most severe heatwave
since 1943, more than 50 elderly Tianjin citizens have died of various
respiratory and cardiac conditions, AFP reported. Temperatures in Tianjin
reached 39.9C degrees (104F degrees) last Sunday, while the average of the
cities of Tianjin and Beijing have been 35C (95F) since July 5. (WU Fang,
Guochen WAN)