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CHINA: FLOODS 2 August 2006 the International Federation’S Mission Is to Improve the Lives of Vulnerable People by Mobilizing the Power of Humanity

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CHINA: FLOODS 2 August 2006 the International Federation’S Mission Is to Improve the Lives of Vulnerable People by Mobilizing the Power of Humanity Appeal no. MDRCN001 CHINA: FLOODS 2 August 2006 The International Federation’s mission is to improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity. It is the world’s largest humanitarian organization and its millions of volunteers are active in over 185 countries. In Brief THIS EMERGENCY APPEAL FOR FLOODS IN CHINA SEEKS CHF 5,950,200 (USD 4,825791 OR EUR 3,782,708) IN CASH, KIND, OR SERVICES TO ASSIST 240,000 BENEFICIARIES FOR 12 MONTHS. THE FEDERATION HAS ALLOCATED CHF 213,000 FROM THE DISASTER RELIEF EMERGENCY FUND (DREF) TO INITIATE RELIEF ACTIVITIES. <click here to link directly to the attached Appeal budget> The 2006 flood and typhoon season is rapidly emerging as one of the most serious in recent years, resulting already in an economic loss of close to USD 10 billion. Since May to late July, five consecutive typhoons and tropical storms have swept through China. Damages wrought have contributed to overall flood-related disaster statistics across the country: from 1 January to 26 June, number of deaths are close to 1,500, with almost 254 million people affected, 8 million evacuated, 26 million hectares of farmland affected and more than four million rooms (the average farmhouse in China has one to three rooms) collapsed or damaged. The flooding season in China is, however, far from over and there is still Floods and typhoons wrecked homes and infrastructure. potential for further devastation. The scale of the humanitarian relief needs in China are huge and the Federation and the Red Cross society of China are fully engaged, assisting and involving vulnerable groups in a focussed disaster relief operation. The International Federation in partnership with the Red Cross society of China aims to provide 60,000 most affected families (240,000 individuals) in Hunan, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian provinces with rice tents and quilts; and to assist 1,200 families to rebuild their homes lost in the floods. These five provinces are selected areas as they are most severely affected by recent typhoons. Donors are therefore encouraged to contribute generously to the appeal. For further information specifically related to this operation please contact: • Red Cross Society of China: Wang Xiaohua (director of external relations department); email: [email protected]; phone: +86.10.6404.8366, fax +86.10.6402.9928. • Federation East Asia regional delegation in China: Alistair Henley (head of regional delegation); [email protected]; phone: +86.10.6532.7162, fax: +86.10.6532.7166. • Federation Secretariat in Geneva (Asia Pacific department): Ewa Eriksson (regional officer); email: [email protected]; phone: +41.22.730.4252; fax: +41.22.733.0395; or Sandra Rosner (senior assistant); email: [email protected]; phone: +41.22.730.4456; fax: +41.22.733.0395 0038E/11.03.04 2 China: Floods; Appeal no. MDRCN001 The situation The 2006 flood season is rapidly emerging as one of the most serious in recent years. Only midway through the traditional floods season (June-September), Hunan, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hubei, Fujian, Guizhou and Yunnan provinces have witnessed the greatest levels of flood related deaths and damage triggered by five severe typhoons, tropical storms and heavy rains (See Table 1 for the cumulative flood related data since the start of the year). According to the latest statistics issued by the National Disaster Reduction Centre of the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MoCA), the number of flood related deaths has soared from A farmer in Ganzhou of Jiangxi province, one of 208 at the end of May to 1,467 by end July, due to the two the many badly affected by floods. latest violent typhoons to strike the country. Overall, some 253,864,000 people throughout China have been affected by severe floods, far higher than in the previous six years and even exceeding the number of 238,973,000 people affected in 1998 by that year’s record floods. The 2006 flood season which has already resulted in an economic loss close to USD 10 billion, commenced in May with the dramatic entrance of Typhoon Chanchu, the first major storm to hit the region. Close to one million people were evacuated in Fujian and Guangdong provinces when the powerful typhoon struck China on Thursday 18 May, leaving at least 21 people dead. According to director of the China Meteorological Administration, typhoon Chanchu, landed in Guangdong nearly 40 days ahead of the beginning of the normal typhoon season. Since then, localised storms and floods punctuated by a series of four more forceful typhoons have swept through China. Typhoons Jelawat and Ewiniar subsequently hit south China’s provinces following Chanchu, but it was 14 July’s Tropical Storm Bilis which contributed to the greatest number of deaths and damage leaving 615 people dead and 209 missing, with some 3,376,100 million people needing to be evacuated in Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces as a result of the tropical storm. The floods related to 14 July’s Tropical Storm Bilis alone swept away the livelihoods and homes of hundreds of thousands of rural farmers, completely destroying 1.3 million hectares of farmland and damaging an additional 326,590. Only ten days after Bilis struck, Red Cross assistance reaches the most remote areas Typhoon Kaemi swept through on 25 July, leading to the evacuation of over 1.3 million people and the destruction of 56,100 additional homes. Kaemi also caused damage to 60,600 homes and affected close to 143,000 hectares of farmland, of which 11,750 hectares were completely ruined. 0038E/11.03.04 3 China: Floods; Appeal no. MDRCN001 Table 1: 2006 Flood Related Disaster Statistics 1 January to 26 July 2006 (Source: Ministry of Civil Affairs) Damaged Direct Econ Affected Dead Missing Injured / Evacuated Collapsed Damaged Farmland Loss (RMB (Million) (Person) (Person) (Person) (Person) Rooms** Rooms** (Hectare) Million) China 253.864 1467 373 43,170 8,025,000 26,676,700 1,079,000 2,986,000 100,710 8 most affected provinces to date Hunan 30.726 451 143 24,015 1,376,000 1,356,800 222,000 544,000 11,370 Jiangxi 23.137 57 1 6,326 475,000 927,000 88,000 562,000 6,080 Guangdong 18.465 152 80 788 1,674,000 630,300 148,000 135,000 19,920 Guangxi 16.855 81 6 4,176 976,000 554,200 69,000 112,000 5,390 Hubei 21.267 38 0 1,508 90,000 1,866,000 35,000 114,000 2,590 Fujian 10.732 165 27 0 1,735,000 455,200 172,000 170,000 13,790 Guizhou 10.118 110 34 242 272,000 406,300 16,000 147,000 2,140 Yunnan 4.761 108 52 174 54,000 532,900 16,000 349,000 960 sub-total 136.061 1162 343 37,229 6,652,000 6,728,700 766,000 2,133,000 62,240 Note: In China damage to houses is reported according to rooms. The average farmhouse is one - two levels comprising 1-3 rooms. These rooms are used to store grain, house animals and farm machinery, and for the family. According to the director of China’s International Disaster Reduction Committee, since the 1990s, losses from natural disasters have visibly increased due to the new round of economic growth. According to the director’s paper presented at the International Conference on Disaster Reduction held in Beijing at the end of May 2004, devastating losses to lives, crops and property due to flooding as well as droughts and earthquakes, account for 80-90 per cent of the substantial economic losses of some USD 12 billion (CHF 14.8 billion) per year. In China, natural disasters such as floods destroy on average a reported 4,182,000 houses per year with some four million people per year needing to be urgently resettled or transferred from their homes. Thus far in 2006, damage related to floods and typhoons has outpaced the damage incurred over the past five years over the same time frame underscoring the urgent need to not only respond to this year’s floods but to prepare communities for future episodes of flooding. The loss of nearly 27 million hectares of land to recent floods only exacerbates the obstacles faced by the country’s rural farmers. Even without the obstacles posed by flooding, few farmers have enough land to farm on. According to the nation's social security authority, about 40 million farmers lost their land as a result of rapid urbanization. At the same time China's arable land has reduced from 130 million hectares in 1996 to 122 million hectares in 2005; and per capita arable land is 0.093 hectares, only one-third of the global average. Agricultural production is limited to the amount of land assigned to each household, with the average acreage per family being about one mu of land roughly equivalent to one-tenth of an acre, or a little smaller than an Olympic-size swimming pool. In China it is women rural farmers who are hardest hit by the floods, as the women in the rural villages are responsible for much of the agricultural work. With an increasing number of men employed in the cities as migrant labourers the women remain in the countryside to attend to the farms and take care of young children and aging parents. Following the loss of crops and homes, heads of household who are men are left with no other choice than to head to the cities as quickly as possible to earn the money that will allow their families to once again have a roof over their heads and enough food to eat while women must ensure the health and well being of their families without adequate shelter while scraping together enough money for food, school fees and medical costs.
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