July 21, 2003

Heavy rainstorms caused flooding along the Huai River, impacting the lives of fifty million people. Fifty million mu [a Chinese land measuring unit] of crops were lost. The financial losses have amounted to an estimated 40 billion Yuan. [Yuan is the Chinese currency. The average monthly salary of an urban worker in China is 500 Yuan.] Since June, rainfall has increased, and the Huai River water levels have been rising. This year's flood was more severe than the Huai River flood of 1991. On Sunday, light rains in Shandong, Jiangsu, and other areas turned into heavier rains, and the rainfall in Henan and Anhui turned into more intense rainstorms. Due to this flood, the government has initiated close to 10 flood-buffering zones. In other words, the government wanted to save the lives of tens of millions of people, as well as the - - industrial operations down stream along the Huai River at the expense of the lives and homesteads of close to a million villagers in the 9 flood-buffering zones that the government deployed.