REGIONAL SUMMARY:
For the nineteenth week of 2022, a total of 30 disasters (22 floods, 4 wind-related, 3 landslides, and 1 storm) affected the region. Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines have reportedly been affected. Prolonged heavy rainfall and overflowing of the rivers have caused flooding and rain-induced landslides and strong winds/tornadoes were experienced over Aceh, North Sumatra, Banten,
West and East Java, Central and East Kalimantan, Central, South, and West Sulawesi, and North Maluku as reported by BNPB. The NADMA reported that flooding occurred in Pahang State. Lastly, the NDRRMC reported that the InterTropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) has caused flooding, landslides, and storms in Regions IX, XI, and BARMM in Mindanao.
HIGHLIGHT:
According to the NDRRMC, on 10 May 2022, the municipal disaster management agency of Data Abdulla Sangki reported that flooding occurred in the municipality as a result of continuous heavy rains brought by the ITCZ. Several municipalities have reported flooding due to the continuous light to moderate with at time heavy rains. A total of 4,249 families (21.2K persons) were reportedly affected and displaced. A total of 1K hectare of agricultural lands were also affected. The municipal disaster risk reduction and management council has carried out necessary actions to address the impacts of the flood i.e., coordination with relevant authorities, rapid assessments and evaluation, and evacuation.
HYDRO-METEO-CLIMATOLOGICAL:
For the past week, data from the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) showed relatively high 7-day average rainfall in the Philippine Sea, across Northern Borneo, and Northern Sulawesi, Papua, and North Maluku of Indonesia, and some portions of Myanmar. Fairly high 7-day average rainfall can be observed across ASEAN (in eastern Thailand, Lao PDR, and Northern and Central Viet Nam. As of reporting, there are no active tropical cyclone advisories for the region (JTWC).
GEOPHYSICAL:
Six (6) significant earthquakes (M≥5.0) were recorded in the region by Indonesia’s BMKG. Semeru, Anak Krakatau, and Ili Lewotolo (Alert Level III), and Ibu and Dukono (Alert Level II) in Indonesia, Taal Volcano (Alert level 2) and Kanlaon (alert level 1) in the Philippines reported recent volcanic activity according to Pusat Vulkanologi dan Mitigasi Bencana Geologi (PVMBG) and Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS)..
OUTLOOK:
According to the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC), for the coming week, wetter conditions are expected over the region between the equator and 10°N (including the Malay Peninsula, northern Sumatra, northern Borneo, and southern Philippines) and the southern Maritime Continent; drier conditions are expected over central and southern Sumatra; warmer conditions are predicted over the region around Sumatra; cooler conditions are predicted for northern parts of Mainland Southeast Asia. For the regional assessment of extremes, there is a moderate increase in chance for very heavy rainfall event to occur in Malay Peninsula; moderate increase in chance for extreme hot conditions to occur in much of the equatorial region; and small increase in chance for extreme cold conditions to occur in much of Myanmar, northern Lao PDR, northern Thailand, northern Viet Nam.
Be Prepared: Build a disaster supplies kit
GENESEO – With winter storms on the horizon now is a good time for build a disaster supplies kit to help you weather such emergencies as a power outage, or if you are stuck at work or stranded in your car.
The Livingston County Department of Health and the Livingston County Office of Emergency Management have information to help you “Build A Kit.”
After an emergency, you may need to survive on your own for several days. Since you do not know where you will be when an emergency occurs, prepare disaster supplies kits for home, work and vehicles. Make sure all family members know where the kits are kept.
A disaster supplies kit for your home is a collection of basic items your household may need in the event of an emergency. Visit https://tinyurl.com/nvyzy7f6 for a preparedness checklist.
After gathering basic items consider what unique needs your family might have, such as supplies for pets or seniors. Don’t forget to include additional items such as cloth face coverings (for everyone ages 2 and above), soap, hand sanitizer, and disinfecting wipes to disinfect surfaces which help prevent the spread of COVID-19, flu, or other viruses.
To assemble your home kit, store items in airtight plastic bags and put your entire disaster supplies kit in one or two easy-to-carry containers such as plastic bins or duffel bags. Remember it is important to maintain your kit so it is ready when needed.
Some helpful tips:
- Keep canned food in a cool, dry place
- Store boxed food in tightly closed plastic or metal containers
- Replace expired items as needed and re-think your needs every year and update your kit as your family’s needs change.
A Work Kit should be stored in a “grab and go” case with items that you will need for at least 24 hours. Items include food, water and other necessities such as medicines and comfortable walking shoes.
Build a car kit in case you get stranded in your vehicle. Keep an emergency supply kit in your car that include jumper cables, flares or reflective triangle, ice scraper, car cell phone charger, blanket, map and cat litter or sand (for better tire traction).
For more information, visit https://www.ready.gov/kit.
Climate Change: Don’t sideline plastic problem, nations urged
Scientists are warning politicians immersed in climate change policy not to forget that the world is also in the midst of a plastic waste crisis.
They fear that so much energy is being expended on emissions policy that tackling plastic pollution will be sidelined.
A paper from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and Bangor University says plastic pollution and climate change are not separate.
It says the issues are actually intertwined – and each makes the other worse.
Manufacturing plastic items adds to greenhouse gas emissions, while extreme weather such as floods and typhoons associated with a heating planet will disperse and worsen plastic pollution in the sea.
The researchers highlight that marine species and ecosystems, such as coral reefs, are taking a double hit from both problems.
Reefs and other vulnerable habitats are also suffering from the seas heating, from ocean acidification, pollution from farms and industry, dredging, development, tourism and over-fishing.
And in addition, sea ice is a major trap for microplastics, which will be released into the ocean as the ice melts due to warming.
The researchers want politicians to address all these issues – and not to allow climate change to take all the policy “bandwidth”.
Professor Heather Koldewey from ZSL said: “Climate change is undoubtedly one of the most critical global threats of our time. Plastic pollution is also having a global impact; from the top of Mount Everest to the deepest parts of our ocean.
“Both are having a detrimental effect on ocean biodiversity; with climate change heating ocean temperatures and bleaching coral reefs, to plastic damaging habitats and causing fatalities among marine species.
“The compounding impact of both crises just exacerbates the problem. It’s not a case of debating which issue is most important, it’s recognising that the two crises are interconnected and require joint solutions.”
Professor Koldewey added: “The biggest shift will be moving away from wasteful single-use plastic and from a linear to circular economy that reduces the demand for damaging fossil fuels.”
Helen Ford, from Bangor University, who led the study, said: “I have seen how even the most remote coral reefs are experiencing widespread coral death through global warming-caused mass bleaching. Plastic pollution is yet another threat to these stressed ecosystems.
“Our study shows that changes are already occurring from both plastic pollution and climate change that are affecting marine organisms across marine ecosystems and food webs, from the smallest plankton to the largest whale.”
ZSL is urging world governments and policy makers to put nature at the heart of all decision making in order to jointly tackle the combined global threats of climate change and biodiversity loss.
Disaster risk reduction at our fingertips
Information saves lives. Knowing how to take action when disaster strikes makes the difference. In 2004, residents of Simeulue Island, off the southern coast of Sumatra, felt the earthquake, saw the tide pull back, and knew from local wisdom that a tsunami was coming and they fled for higher ground. Their knowledge saved lives.
Since that tragic catastrophe, Indonesia has created the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) and its local counterparts to manage disasters and established nationwide early warning systems. Communities throughout the country have been more informed with preventive steps with students and villagers performing disaster drills in schools and villages respectively.
These are examples of disaster risk reduction; putting safeguards in place for the myriad hazards facing Indonesia to save lives and reduce potential loss. When hazards like earthquakes, tsunamis, storms, illness strike, having access to information saves lives.
And today, almost 16 years later, the technology we have at our fingertips is more advanced. Tapping into its potential, this digital resource, is the next phase of protecting people.
Today as the world marks International Disaster Risk Reduction Day amid the COVID-19 pandemic, we are reminded that we need to invest more resources in digital solutions to build prevention ecosystems that could save many lives in the event of future natural disasters and unprecedented health crises.
Recent disasters in Indonesia, like the Central Sulawesi quaketriggered tsunami or the current COVID-19 pandemic, serve as a wake-up call for the country to look beyond conventional measures when it comes to data analysis and area mapping in strengthening disaster preventive systems. And in a country where 8 out of 10 people have access to mobile phones, the answer to our future risk assessment may lie in digital technology and mobile phone applications.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP), through the Program for Earthquake and Tsunami Infrastructure Reconstruction Assistance (PETRA) project, and in partnership with the German Development Bank, KfW, works with BNPB to rebuild vital infrastructure and community facilities, and strengthen resilience of people. We have also expanded support to BNPB’s “InaRISK” mobile application to assist with monitoring support during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The tool, developed in partnership with BNPB, informs users of imminent risks of impending natural disasters, disseminating disaster risk assessments to the government and other stake holders.
Through the Partnerships for Strengthening School Preparedness for Tsunamis in the Asia Pacific Region project, UNDP together with BNPB, the Education Ministry, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), and UNESCO in partnership with the government of Japan developed the STEPA application to assess schools’ earthquake and tsunami preparedness. Well prepared schools will save our children.
The STEP-A application goes hand in hand with UNDP’s active participation in holding periodic tsunami drills at schools in Indonesia’s high-risk areas, also with the support of the government of Japan. The STEP-A system has also been integrated with BNPB’s “InaRISK” online platform.
There are plans for the STEPA system to provide schools with a tsunami risk information dashboard in 17 countries, supported by the Regional Project for disaster data governance (GCDS and Data Digitalization). Indonesia is providing technical assistance to those countries in partnership with Fujitsu.
Data analysis is the need of the hour and the availability of this rich data can help the government better understand where the needs are greatest to mitigate future risks. At a time when the threat from natural disasters and pandemics looms large, we must invest more in building systems that can help save lives.
If our response mechanisms could be bolstered by digital systems in the form of early warning systems, we could work on more effective reconstruction. Fewer lives would be lost, and damage could be contained. By investing in digital platforms and creating a centralized data analytical system, we could help mitigate future risks as we build resilience.
Investing in digital technology is certainly the way forward and will also help create the building blocks necessary to addressing the pressing concerns of building resilience through risk mitigation. Digital technology can help the government, policy makers — and humanitarian organizations address shortfalls in risk management and address challenges before disasters strike.
Responding to these situations also opens up the opportunity to address gender disparities. Digital solutions provide a platform for us to take an inclusive approach as these solutions are developed to ensure both women’s needs, and concerns are also considered in risk mitigation plans.
Of course, digital innovations demand improving telecommunications infrastructure and improving internet access nationwide. Digital usage in Indonesia is among the highest in the world but developing programs to improve digital literacy — coupled with expanding connectivity — will give more people the opportunity to protect themselves and be more risk-aware. We have the technology; it’s time to make it work.
But we cannot leave anyone behind. We have seen the deepening inequalities that COVID-19 has exacerbated, and as we leapfrog technological advancements, such as those for disaster risk reduction, we cannot also widen the digital divide. We must ensure that those furthest behind also have access to the digital options emerging, particularly those that help mitigate disaster. We know that women and the poorest amongst us suffer hardest in disasters. They must be protected.
We need to foster greater coherence of disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation efforts; provide access to risk information and early warning systems; and strengthen preparedness and response measures. Digitization is one solution as we seek to mitigate the risks of climate change, economic instability and antibiotic resistance, among others.
Together, these efforts strengthen the resilience of Indonesia’s urban and rural communities and can help us all build forward better.
***
The writer is UNDP Indonesia deputy resident representative
Social protection and labor – Disaster risk management toolkit
This toolkit was conceived for the use of two groups of World Bank Group (WBG) staff and consultants. The primary target users consist of social protection and labor (SPL) specialists who help WBG client countries to strengthen the natural-disaster responsiveness of SPL systems, or more broadly, to mainstream DRM in the country’s SPL policies, programs, and service deliveries. The second most important target users are those who belong to either disaster risk management (DRM) or disaster risk financing (DRF) communities, those work closely with and support the first group, or those are interested in using SPL programs and services as a platform to support their objectives. It is our hope that the knowledge and insights contained in this toolkit will increase the effectiveness of the two target users in assisting their country clients. While some parts of this toolkit are relevant only to WBG staff and consultants, we hope many other parts will also be useful for their in-country counterparts.
SPL specialists in the WBG are typically trained in economics, political science, sociology, and other social sciences. In contrast, DRM specialists tend to be engineers, urban planners, and environmental scientists. Many in the DRF community have degrees in financial economics and business management.
It is not among our objectives to convert SPL specialists into DRM or DRF specialists, or vice-versa. However, our objective includes facilitating communication among the three groups of specialists. When people from different professional specializations come to work together, even a simple word like “risk” is interpreted differently. Engineers are likely to think of physical damage and destruction, where death and injury are the primary human impact to be minimized. SPL specialists, on the other hand, would think of loss of job and income, declining consumption (particularly food), and its long-term impact on human capital. This is what Robert Chambers called “Professional Biases” in his classic book, Rural Development: Putting the Last First. However, to face cross-sectoral challenges, understanding the perspectives of partners from different disciplines is important.
It is also among our objectives to be able to answer questions like those below, which often come to the minds of WBG SPL specialists when they are asked about the linkage between their field and DRM:
- What SPL instruments are useful for DRM purposes?
- What are the financial options to make the country’s SPL system ready for disasters?
- What are the difference between DRM and climate change adaptation (CCA), and how do they relate to each other?
- What DRM/DRF instruments are critical to SPL?
- What kind of information needs to be shared between SPL and DRM? E.g. How to integrate poverty maps (SPL) and hazard maps (DRM)?
- How can the most vulnerable people be identified to render most needed assistance to them?
- When to use in-kind transfer (e.g. school feeding programs) vs. cash-based approaches for DRM?
- How to best support specific groups of vulnerable populations, e.g. female-headed households, households with disabilities, and/or the elderly in preparation for disasters?
- What institutional mechanism is required to assist displaced persons in preparation for disasters?
- How should the division of labor and coordination mechanisms be organized between the SPL and DRM communities, and at what level (e.g. national, sub-national and local)?
- How can civil society and the private sector be effectively engaged for integrating SRM with DRM?
- What is the role that civil society and the private sector play in engaging in SRM and DRM activities?
- What kind of institutions, legal instruments, and regulatory arrangements need to be built to ensure the integration of SRM with DRM?
- Where does one find SPL and DRM experts who can offer advice?
Australians urged to prepare for summer disaster season
Emergency Management Australia (EMA) has completed its annual disaster season briefings with states and territories and has urged Australians to properly prepare for the upcoming summer disaster season, which officially commences this month.
Minister for Emergency Management David Littleproud said that local, state, territory and federal agencies are well prepared to support communities through natural disasters, including from the initial response and relief phase through to long-term recovery.
“Since the horrific bushfires last summer, the Government has been working to bolster Australia’s ability to respond to and recover from crises including natural disasters and the COVID-19 Pandemic,” Minister Littleproud said.
“The next challenge is to make sure we are all prepared for the disaster risks facing us over the coming season.
“Significant grass and vegetation growth over winter combined with higher than average temperatures across the southern part of Australia means we are looking at the very real potential for a bad grass fire season.
“In the north, La Nina conditions risk bringing a worse than average storm, cyclone and flood season.”
Over the past two weeks, Emergency Management Australia has been holding operational briefings with police, fire authorities and emergency service agencies in every State and Territory to prepare for the disaster season.
“The Australian Government works with communities to prevent, prepare, respond and recover from disasters – from disaster mitigation initiatives, and community awareness and warning measures, through to disaster relief and recovery support,” Minister Littleproud said.
“We have invested more than $2 billion to help communities recover from last summer’s bushfires and have already committed significant funding to better prepare for the future including in bushfire research, aerial firefighting and telecommunications.
“We are investing more than $26 million annually in the National Aerial Firefighting Centre to improve Australia’s aerial firefighting capability, and more than $27 million to strengthen telecommunications resilience in bushfire and disaster-prone areas so that communities can stay connected during emergencies.
“There’s also been an important step in streamlining aid and support from the Australian Defence Force ahead of the 2020 2021 summer season with the Department of Defence and Home Affairs, through EMA, undertaking a comprehensive review of the Defence Assistance to the Civil Community (DACC) arrangements.
“While we can work with authorities to properly prepare, it’s also critical families, households and individuals do what they can to prepare themselves.
“By planning ahead, people can reduce the risk of injury and damage to property.
“Information on how to prepare for disasters is available through state and territory authorities.”
The Royal Commission into Natural Disaster Arrangements will deliver its Final Report to government on 28 October 2020, which we look forward to receiving and carefully considering as part of our ongoing work to ensure Australia’s natural disaster capabilities are as effective as possible.
/Public Release. The material in this public release comes from the originating organization and may be of a point-in-time nature, edited for clarity, style and length. View in full here.
Flood Risk Management Scheme ongoing in West Cumbria
The Environment Agency continues work on a Flood Risk Management Scheme in Egremont that consists of flood walls and embankments, which will create storage areas for flood water as well as helping to better protect a number of properties through flood resistance measures.
Stewart Mounsey, Cumbria’s Flood Risk Manager at the Environment Agency said:
“We have been working really closely with the community of Egremont from the start of the consultation process in order to help reduce the impact of flooding in the future. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all partners involved in this partnership project, it’s great to see this scheme progressing with construction ongoing.
We are looking forward to the completion of the Skirting Beck and Whangs Beck Flood Risk Management Scheme and the benefits this will bring to reduce flood risk.”
Following planning application approval from Copeland Borough Council in October 2019, the Environment Agency have completed works in the Croadalla Avenue area of the town. Other completed works consist of property level protection (PLP) to 43 properties in Croadalla Avenue and Church View. Culvert works have also commenced in this area with piling works completed. The scheme involves the creation of flood storage areas at West Lakes Academy and Falcon Club, Whangs Beck and How Bank, where some enabling works have started, in readiness for the main construction works.
Over the next weeks and months, works will continue to construct flood storage areas and pre-cast units will be installed over the piled wall at West Lakes Academy and the Falcon Club. Works will commence on habitat and recreational space for the community to enjoy, and approximately 800 trees will be planted.
Councillors from Copeland Borough Council visited the site on Monday 20th July 2020. Environment Agency project leads Graham Stanger and MBE Glyn Vaughan gave a tour of the scheme and discussed the various elements of the construction.
Pat Graham, Chief Executive of Copeland Council, said:
“We welcome the progress that is being made on this vitally important scheme for the town of Egremont.
“When the works are complete, it will make a significant and lasting difference to the community; many of whom have suffered the trauma that flooding brings over many years.
“It has been an outstanding collaborative effort from ourselves, the Environment Agency, Cumbria County Council, partners and the community to get to this point, and we look forward to seeing the scheme continue to progress towards completion next August.”
The help and cooperation of local residents, West Lakes Academy, Falcon Club, schools and nurseries has helped l this scheme come to fruition.. Thank you to the community of Egremont, and for our partners for their ongoing support and community spirit.
The PLA Is Mobilized for Flood Relief in Eastern China
Introduction
Throughout June and July, much of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has experienced heavy rainfall from the annual late spring – early summer East Asian rainy season, a phenomenon sometimes called the “plum rain” (梅雨, meiyu). This year, the rainfall has brought severe flooding to vast areas of the central, eastern, and southern regions of the country—with the worst-affected regions including Jiangxi, Anhui, Hubei, and Hunan Provinces, as well as the municipality of Chongqing. Official PRC sources have cited this as China’s worst flooding in more than two decades: per state media coverage on July 17, “Since June, 141 people have died or are missing, 37.89 million have been affected and over 2,246,00 relocated due to floods in 27 provincial-level regions in China, including eastern Anhui and Jiangxi provinces” (CGTN, July 17).
Some of the worst flooding has been seen on the upper reaches of the Yangzi River, in what PRC state media has termed the “Yangzi 2020 Number Two Flood” (长江2020年第2号洪水, Changjiang 2020 Nian Dierhao Hongshui) (Xinhua, July 17). One particularly hard-hit region has been Poyang Lake (鄱阳湖, Poyang Hu) in northern Jiangxi Province. The area of the lake averages approximately 1,385 square miles, although its size varies considerably from year-to-year based on rainfall and other factors; in 2019 the lake’s size shrunk considerably due to drought, but this year’s heavy rains have brought it to its highest water levels ever (NASA, July 14). Per official PRC figures, “Poyang Lake, the country’s largest freshwater lake, saw its water level rise to 22.6 meters at 10 a.m. on [July 13], breaking the 22.52-meter record set in 1998” (CGTN, July 17). As of mid-July, fourteen flood levees in Poyang County had reportedly been breached (Xinhua, July 14).
Asserting the Party’s Leading Role in Disaster Relief Operations
Throughout the COVID-19 epidemic in Hubei Province, official PRC spokespersons and media outlets have taken great pains to depict the national-level authorities of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as directly engaged and concerned for the welfare of China’s common citizens—and in particular, to depict the party center as giving firm direction to local officials (China Brief, February 28). Similar messaging has accompanied the flood response effort, such as the reported admonitions made by Wang Yong (王勇), a PRC State Councilor and director of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, that local officials take “strict precautions against dike and reservoir breaches, torrential floods, [and] waterlogging,” and that they “properly relocate affected people and promptly allocate relief supplies to ensure basic living standards of people hit by floods” (Xinhua, July 14).
The CCP Politburo Standing Committee reportedly held a meeting on July 17, which was dedicated to the flooding crisis. As has become de rigueur for reporting on Politburo meetings, state media indicated that CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping “chaired the meeting and delivered an important speech” (主持会议并发表重要讲话, zhuchi huiyi bing fabiao zhongyao jianghua). Per this coverage, Xi stated that, since heavy rains and flooding commenced in June, “Under the resolute leadership of the party center [and] party committees at various levels… the People’s Liberation Army and People’s Armed Police have brought into action shock teams, [and] bravely fought with the unity of cadres and the masses” in providing flood and disaster relief to affected areas (China Youth Daily, July 17).
Mobilization of the PLA and PAP for Flood Control Operations
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has traditionally played a leading role in civil defense and disaster relief operations, in a dual sense: it possesses manpower, logistical, and medical resources unmatched elsewhere in Chinese society, and its role as the “Party’s army” also makes it a potent propaganda tool for the CCP amid domestic crisis situations. The PLA was front-and-center in relief efforts for this year’s COVID-19 epidemic in Hubei Province, where it played major roles in providing augmentation medical personnel and logistical support to civilian hospitals, as well as staffing new medical facilities rapidly constructed for coronavirus patients (China Brief, April 13).
The response to this summer’s floods have been no exception. As of July 15, state media indicated that 29,000 troops from the PLA and the People’s Armed Police (PAP), as well as 5,000 militia personnel, had been dispatched to “fight on the anti-flooding front lines” by reinforcing dikes, plugging levee breaches, and providing medical services. PLA Ground Force components under the Eastern Theater Command (东部战区, Dongbu Zhanqu) have had a particularly prominent role in these efforts, with the 71st, 72nd, and 73rd PLA Group Armies all receiving specific mention in state media coverage. For example, in mid-July the PLA Daily stated that:
A certain brigade of the 71st Group Army quickly assembled more than 1000 officers and men, and by motorized transport hurried to Anqing [安庆] City to throw themselves into relief operations. After receiving the mission, a certain brigade of the 73rd Group Army promptly activated its emergency plan, dispatching 3,700 officers and men hundreds of kilometers across provincial boundaries at top speed, rushing to the rescue of the Yugan [余干] region of Jiangxi. The Wuxi [无锡] Joint Logistics Center transferred 160 personnel from the Eastern Theater General Hospital, the Number 901 Hospital, and the Number 908 Hospital… sending them to Jiangxi and Anhui to join rescue and relief work (Peng Pai News, July 15).
Such statements also hint at one of the less obvious advantages that such deployments hold for the PLA: the improvement of its own logistical and mobilization capabilities to function in wartime environments. Improving transport and logistical capabilities across longer distances has become a focus of many recent PLA exercises, on both land and sea (China Brief, January 29; China Brief, April 13). Furthermore, the recent COVID-19 relief effort in Hubei Province provided the PLA with the opportunity to demonstrate previously untested logistical capabilities, such as the use of newer-model PLA Air Force heavy transport aircraft for the rapid movement of personnel and supplies (China Brief, April 13). Many of the skill sets needed for peacetime disaster relief overlap with those needed for logistical and civil defense operations in wartime.
Conclusion
Response to natural disasters has long been a focus of the senior leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)—and particularly in the era of CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping, active efforts have been made to leverage the propaganda value of disaster relief to build both the party’s image and the cult of personality around Xi. The image of Xi and some other CCP senior officials may have taken a hit during the course of the COVID-19 epidemic (China Brief, February 13), but the flooding response effort has offered another opportunity for the CCP to seize proactive control of the narratives surrounding the state response to natural disasters. The PLA, as the armed branch of the CCP, may be expected to continue its vanguard role in disaster relief operations—both in terms of presence on the ground, as well as its propaganda value for the CCP in demonstrating the “unity of cadres and the masses.”
John Dotson is the editor of China Brief. For any comments, queries, or submissions, feel free to reach out to him at: [email protected].
Read-the-07-29-2020-CB-Issue-in-PDF.pdf Flood Peak Moves Along China’s Yangtze River, as Water Reaches Dangerous Levels
The third peak of this year’s flooding season in China from heavy rainfall arrived on July 28 at the midstream region of the Yangtze River, which is nearly 4,000 miles long and runs across central and eastern parts of the country.
Water levels in Hunan Province’s Yueyang city rose above the alert level, meaning an embankment breach could occur at any time, officials said.
Meanwhile, China’s largest lakes, the Dongting and Poyang, which are in the Yangtze River’s drainage area, and the 620-mile-long Huai River, have been above the alert stage for days.
While large swaths of the country have experienced historic flooding since early June, the regime’s top officials have been conspicuously absent. No high-level official has yet visited the disaster areas, as their predecessors did to put a positive spin of the government’s disaster relief efforts.
Officials warned on July 29 that heavy rain would hit northern China and might spark heavy flooding by the Hai, Yellow, and Songhuajiang rivers. Since northern China doesn’t typically experience flooding, residents of northern and northeastern China, especially those living in the drainage areas of the Yellow and Huai rivers, were asked by authorities to make emergency preparations in case of a disaster.
As of July 29, authorities said that millions from 27 Chinese provinces have been affected by flooding since June, including 158 people dead or missing, while 3.76 million people have been left homeless.
In recent weeks, authorities in some parts of central China discharged excess rainwater accumulating in rivers and reservoirs into rural areas, in order to protect cities from being inundated by floodwaters—often without giving advance notice, locals told The Epoch Times.
In such cases, it’s difficult to assess the true damage and number of casualties.
The emergency response ministry also hosted a seminar on July 29, urging local governments in the Yangtze and Huai river drainage areas to ensure the safety of local dams.
After heavy water intake for weeks, “the dams face the perils of landslides, caving in, water rushing out of pipes, and collapse.”
To ensure their structural integrity, the ministry instructed governments to arrange for people to patrol the dams 24 hours a day.
Yangtze River
At 8 p.m. on July 27, the third peak of flooding arrived at China’s largest hydroelectric project, the Three Gorges Dam. Since then, the water level of the Three Gorges Reservoir has been rising, according to state-run newspaper Changjiang Daily.
By late on July 29, the peak of the flooding passed the area of the dam, and moved to the midstream region of the Yangtze. With that, the metropolis of Chongqing, located upstream, announced that ships could operate again, after the city had banned all ships from the river on July 26 due to rising water levels.
While Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province and located midstream of the Yangtze, reported higher river levels, the peak of flooding hadn’t arrived as of late July 29.
Meanwhile, a surge in water level on the Han River, which drains into the Yangtze in Wuhan, could cause the Yangtze to overflow there, the Yangtze River commission within the Water Resources Ministry said.
China’s National Meteorological Center is forecasting that the Yangtze River’s upstream region in Sichuan Province, as well as the river’s midstream in Hunan and Jiangxi provinces, would be hit by heavy rainfall again in the next 24 hours.
The center then issued an alert that eastern and southern Sichuan, southwestern Jiangxi, and southeastern Hunan could be faced with mudslides.
With the rivers located both midstream and downstream of the Yangtze reporting that they have topped alert levels, additional heavy rain and a third peak of flooding could leave these areas susceptible to severe flooding.
China floods affect 54.8 million people, inflict US$20 billion in losses
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The massive floods which have ravaged China over the past two months have inflicted a heavy toll on the communist country in terms of damages to property and direct economic losses, with the vaunted Three Gorges Dam seemingly inadequate in reducing these effects and the death toll remaining suspiciously low.
After two months of torrential rains and tremendous flooding across the Yangtze River, Yellow River, and Huai River, China’s state-run media mouthpiece Xinhua on Wednesday (July 29) cited the Ministry of Emergency Management as saying that the “rain-triggered floods” have affected 54.8 million people in 27 provincial-level regions as of Tuesday (July 28). Despite the vast scale of the disaster across China over two months, the government is reporting a miraculously low 158 dead or missing.
Xinhua says that 3.76 million people have been evacuated from flood-ravaged areas. Amid the onslaught, 41,000 homes have collapsed and 368,000 have been damaged.
A total of 5.283 hectares of farmland has been damaged and direct economic losses have climbed to 144.43 billion Chinese yuan (about 20.66 billion U.S. dollars). Compared with the average over the same period in the past five years, the number of people affected by floods this year has increased by 23.4 percent, the number of evacuations has increased by 36.7 percent, and direct economic losses have increased by 13.8%.
Suspiciously, the number of dead and missing persons has decreased by 53.9 percent and the number of collapsed houses has dropped by 68.4 percent. Given that this year’s floods have not only surpassed anything seen in the past five years but also since 1998 and beyond, it is odd that the number of deaths and collapsed homes would actually decrease, possibly indicating undercounting by officials.
Although it is predicted that the heavy rainfall in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River will ease on Wednesday, the official Weibo page of China’s Ministry of Emergency Management (MEM) stated that the government has decided to maintain the secondary flood control response on the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers as well as required key areas to the north so as to strengthen the implementation of flood prevention.
On Sunday (July 26), China’s state-run mouthpiece Xinhua announced that the “No. 3 Flood” of the year had been declared for the embattled Three Gorges Dam that day. By 2 p.m., the dam’s reservoir recorded an inflow of 50,000 cubic meters per second, and it is expected to peak at 60,000 cubic meters per second by Tuesday, according to China’s Ministry of Water Resources.
By 8 a.m. on Tuesday, the flood passed through the Three Gorges Reservoir area and was advancing to the middle and lower reaches. The main channel of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River was still maintaining a high water level.
Although the water level of the main channel of the middle and upper reaches of the Huai River is slowly decreasing, it has exceeded the warning level for an extended period of time. As of Wednesday, the water level of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River below the city of Shishou in Hubei Province and the Poyang and Dongting Lakes continues to exceed the warning level.
It is expected that heavy rains and floods may occur in the Yellow River basin at any time after the rain belt moves north on Wednesday. According to The Beijing News, after the rain belt moves north on Wednesday, heavy rainfall will occur in the Huanghuai region, North China, and Northeast China, and heavy floods may occur in the Hai River, Yellow River, and Songliao rivers.