8 THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 2012 CHINA DAILY Haikui hammers ,

By WANG ZHENGHUA with maximum rainfall in areas suspended production. About and LI XINZHU in Shanghai close to 130 millimeters. 220 roads and 770 electric lines Many companies closed for were affected. The direct eco- battered the day, and hundreds of thou- nomic loss stood at about 6.8 the country’s coastal areas with sands of residents living on the billion yuan ($1.07 billion). strong winds and floods on city’s outskirts were evacuated. Qinshan Nuclear Power Wednesday, killing at least one Haikui’s impact on Shanghai Station in ’s Haiyan person, and is expected to linger was expected to subside slightly county reduced its electricity in East China through Friday. between Wednesday night and generation on Wednesday but China’s third typhoon in a early Th ursday. returned to normal later when week landed in Hepu township, As of 2 pm Wednesday, a total the typhoon’s threat subsided. Xiangshan county in Zhejiang of 700 flights had been can- At least 18 villages and town- province, at 3:20 am, causing celed at Shanghai’s two major ships in Zhejiang suffered widespread fl ooding and land- airports. blackouts on Wednesday, aff ect- slides, paralyzing traffic and On the ground, Haikui para- ing more than 80,000 residents. triggering blackouts throughout lyzed hundreds of long-distance “The electrical power and the area. bus services that were sched- water supply were cut on Tues- In Nanjing, capital of East uled to depart from Shanghai day evening,” said Zhu Jiaqi, China’s province, a to nearby regions. At Shang- a self-employed resident of 68-year-old cyclist was crushed hai South Long-Distance Bus Ningbo. “It was very diffi cult to by a tree leveled by strong winds Station alone, more than 600 walk outside because the road from Haikui. Th e man died later bus runs were called off , repre- was fi lled with puddles from the in a hospital, China News Ser- senting almost 60 percent of its heavy rain.” vices reported on Wednesday. services. In Hangzhou, more than China’s National Meteorolog- Shanghai railway authorities 180 trees were uprooted by the ical Center said Haikui, which said on Wednesday that it has strong wind. means “sea anemone”, lessened suspended all high-speed rail- “Trees along the West Lake to a strong storm on Wednes- way services linking the city with were fl attened,” said 22-year-old day aft ernoon, packing winds of Nanjing and Hangzhou, and Lai Gaoyue in Hangzhou. “No up to 108 kilometers per hour. some of the services to Beijing. memo was issued yesterday to It would move northwest at a Haikui also delayed almost all tell us to stay at home, but most speed of 15 km/h, with its center other trains, including the one of my colleagues chose to take expected to enter East China’s from Beijing to Hangzhou carry- the day off . Th e boss told us to province on Wednesday ing Olympic gold medal swim- leave aft er lunch. It is very hard night, the center said. mers Sun Yang and Ye Shiwen. Women walk into the wind on Nanjing Road as Typhoon Haikui hits Shanghai on Wednesday. PEI XIN / XINHUA to get a taxi.” It will linger near the border It also paralyzed the city’s Floods triggered by Haikui area of Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhe- magnetic levitation line and also trapped 44 Shanghai tour- jiang on Th ursday and Friday, part of the service on Metro ists in a remote village in Zheji- as its strength slowly ebbs, the Line 2. It was the fi rst time these ang’s Pan’an county on Wednes- center said. lines were suspended because of day. “Haikui moved very slowly a storm. An SOS message on a micro on land because of the lack of Th e strong wind ripped open blog at about 9 am on Wednes- a strong air current to lead it the scaff old on top of the Shang- day said the group was stranded more quickly, and it is located hai Tower, which will be China’s in a four-story building at the in a weak meteorological area tallest building upon comple- riverside, and their lives were in between continental high pres- tion. Police evacuated the area danger because the building’s sure and the secondary high on the ground. Th e alarm was lower part was undermined by pressure on the sea,” Shanghai lifted after the structure was fl oods. Meteorological Bureau’s chief reinforced. Th ey were later relocated to meteorologist, Man Liping, said The city’s flood control the houses of local residents on Wednesday. department said on Wednes- SUN JINBIAO / FOR CHINA DAILY ZHANG YIN / CHINA NEWS SERVICE with ample food and water In Shanghai, the meteo- day afternoon that the city’s Electricians repair fallen lines after the typhoon blew down Rescuers drive amphibious vehicles through fl ooded streets to supply. rological department raised inundation threat was under electricity poles in Wenling, Zhejiang province, on Wednesday. save trapped residents in Yiwu city, Zhejiang province. the typhoon alarm to red, the control and the city was operat- Contact the writers at highest level, at 11:30 am on ing normally. and traffic interruption as its Huzhou. Drought Relief Headquarters, Haikui by noon on Wednesday. wangzhenghua@chinadaily. Wednesday. Th e entire city was In nearby Zhejiang, Haikui center moved past densely pop- According to the Office of more than 3.2 million residents A total of 2,900 houses were fl at- com.cn and lixinzhu@china- subject to the storm’s wrath, caused widespread flooding ulated Shaoxing, Hangzhou and Zhejiang Flood Control and in Zhejiang were affected by tened, and 30,000 businesses daily.com.cn

RAINFALL BROUGHT BY TYPHOON HAIKUI Typhoon chasers use from 8 am Wednesday to 8 am Thursday

HEAVY RAIN PROJECTED PATH weibo to help public (25-49.9MM) DOWNPOUR (50-99.9MM) By SHI YINGYING better protect themselves. in Shanghai “We posted all kinds of sat- TORRENTIAL RAIN HOTONWEB [email protected] ellite cloud pictures and radar (100-250MM) maps through weibo (the Chi- Some posts on Sina Weibo EXTREME 8 am It was the worst of times nese equivalent of Twitter) — TORRENTIAL RAIN related to Typhoon Haikui on when Typhoon Haikui land- not only those from official (>250MM) Friday Wednesday: ed in Zhejiang province, and Chinese websites, but also fi g- people hunkered down. But it ures from abroad, including the @Sun Yang (the Olympic CHINA was also the best of times for European Center for Medium- gold medal swimmer): weather enthusiasts, who had Range Weather Forecasts,” he 8 am The high-speed train has been been anxiously waiting for the said. “Most importantly, we stopped for three hours due to Thursday Haikui. Can I get home today? deadly phenomenon since it explained what’s going on out Netizens replied: Swim back formed on Aug 3. there with the plainest language when the water is deep enough. Shao Jun, 24, was one of so that everybody could under- 8 am them. stand.” Wednesday @Wangxing WX: “It’s not oft en that a typhoon Regarding himself as an The ferris wheel of Ningbo city, hits Shanghai, and that’s why a interpreter of professional

Zhejiang province, was born few members of our club got Shao Jun is a weather meteorological vocabulary for NP on Feb 16, 1999. At a height of excited and started to discuss enthusiast in Shanghai. the ordinary person, Shao said 35 meters, the landmark was a questions such as how intense the role of weather enthusiasts Source: National Meteorological Center GUILLERMO MUNRO, FENG XIUXIA / CHINA DAILY dream place for many children. Haikui would be and where minimum temperature is bro- is important for those who can’t On Aug 8, 2012, the 13-year-old exactly it would land,” said the ken because of cold air. But for understand the weatherman. involved in monitoring the vehicle on Tuesday aft ernoon speed, change direction or die (structure) was destroyed. young man, who works full time me, it’s always typhoons,” said “Our offi cial weather forecast typhoon. and headed to Shanghai’s Jiax- down all of a sudden.” at an auto parts company in Shao, who started to develop comes out slowly. Take Haikui Zhao Bingke, 46, is the leader ing district, one of the suburbs Data to map the internal @Shunying Kuailede Hudie: Shanghai. an interest in weather, espe- as an example. It was formed on of Typhoon Chaser, a three- that was greatly aff ected. structure of typhoons, however, My classmate’s dog was blown Shao is also an active mem- cially typhoons, aft er Matsa hit Aug 3, but Haikui didn’t attract member team established by “We need to be there, to be can only be gathered through away! ber of Fengyunhui, a weather Shanghai in 2005. much local news until Aug 7, the Shanghai Typhoon Insti- as close to the center of the observation on the ground, enthusiasts’ club organized by Instead of taking pleasure in when it was on the verge of tute of the China Meteorologi- typhoon as possible — it’s our according to Zhao. “Satellites @Dongqu Luojie: the Shanghai Meteorological the suffering of Zhejiang and nearby cities,” said Shao, adding cal Administration to collect mission,” said Zhao. “Typhoons are not so reliable because there A bonus of Typhoon Haikui: I’ll Bureau. Shanghai because of Haikui, that his group started to broad- real-time data about the inter- are as destructive as they are are too many interruptions.” marry whoever picks me up “Some of us are fans of thun- Shao believed his passion actu- cast about Haikui six days ago. nal structure of typhoons for dynamic. But we know little after work today. Please meet at the Puruan Tower (in Shanghai)! derstorms, and some of us get ally could help the public to bet- In addition to excited enthu- research purposes. about what’s behind their Li Xinzhu contributed to this excited every time the record ter understand typhoons and siasts, professionals also got He jumped into his 20-ton dynamics — how they pick up story.

CHINESE GETTING OLDER ‘Parents who put country’s interest fi rst deserve reward’ AGES Family: 0-14 15-64 65 and up FROM PAGE 1 “We don’t count on the money Yuan Xin, a professor at Nan- should be taken care of and A special subsidy was intro- but it might be of great help to kai University’s population and rewarded. duced in 2007 for single-child 28.68% 27.69% 22.89% 16.60% “We didn’t expect such a sub- some people who are struggling development institute in Tian- “But we have to consider the parents whose children died or sidy but are happy to receive it and they deserve that.’’ jin, expressed optimism that the economic situation as well,” she suff ered disability through birth as a show of respect,” said Ni Lu said the initiative was program will expand. said. or accident. Guoqing, a retired civil servant “another major breakthrough “More government policies China’s family planning law, Last year, the commission and in Xi’an, capital of Shaanxi prov- aft er the government began to and measures favorable for all issued in 2001, recognized such the Ministry of Finance jointly 65.86% 66.74% 70.15% 74.53% ince. give financial support in 2003 single-child families, regardless policies. Apart from the decades- issued an official document Starting in 2011, the provincial for parents older than 55 in rural of their residence, will be intro- old policy to give a single-child which touched upon subsidies government began to give out a areas who followed the family duced,” he said. subsidy, 5 yuan a month, which for elderly single-child parents monthly subsidy of 106 yuan to planning policy’’. Li Bin, former head of the ends when the child reached 14, in urban areas. 5.46% 5.57% 6.96% 8.87% all retired parents in urban areas Rural areas traditionally had National Population and Fam- other policies have been gradu- “That needs to be further who had just one child. little in terms of social wel- ily Planning Commission, said ally introduced, according to strengthened and institutional- “A ft er handing in our single- fare and insurance and people previously that those who put Yuan. ized as a supplement to the fam- 19871990 2000 2010 child certificate, my wife and tended to rely on children to the country’s interest fi rst, in Lu, however, urged policy- ily planning policy,” Lu urged. I began to receive the subsidy look aft er them in their old age, answering the government’s makers to adjust the sum to “It also matters a lot to social Source:Science Technology Weekly CHINA DAILY from our work units,” Ni said. according to Lu. call to have only one child, refl ect present-day reality. stability,” he stressed.