Beijing authorities admitted on Thursday that they were insufficiently prepared to face the torrential rains that hit the city. The bad weather left 44 dead and nine missing according to a latest assessment.
KEYSTONE
Part of northern China, especially the capital, has been affected in recent days by deadly floods which have forced tens of thousands of inhabitants to flee their home.
According to the latest assessment established on Thursday, “44 people died and nine missing,” said at a press conference Xia Linmao, a senior municipality.
“Between July 23 and 29, Beijing suffered extreme precipitation,” he added, adding that they had caused “important human losses”, including 31 deaths recorded in an establishment for the elderly.
A previous assessment reported 30 dead in the Chinese capital, the affected areas being mainly located in the semi-rural area, about a hundred kilometers from the city center.
“On behalf of the Municipal Committee of the Party (Communist) and the Government of the City, I want to express my deep sadness for those who unfortunately lost their lives, as well as my sincere condolences to their relatives,” said Xia Linmao.
He promised that “deep lessons” will be taken from this disaster. “Our ability to predict and alert in the event of extreme weather conditions is insufficient, and the prevention and attenuation plans of disasters have not been fully developed,” he said.
“Painful lesson”
An observation shared by another Beijing leader present at this press conference. “Our emergency plans included flaws. Our understanding of extreme meteorological phenomena is insufficient, “said Yu Weiguo, head of the Chinese Communist Party in the hard -hit district of Miyun.
“This painful lesson woke us up: placing the people in the foreground, human life above all, is not just a slogan,” he continued. “We must concretely translate this into effective measures,” he concluded.
Natural disasters are common in China, especially during the summer, when certain regions are overwhelmed by torrential rains while others are in the grip of drought.
China is the largest global greenhouse gas transmitter which, according to scientists, accelerate climate change and make extreme meteorological events more frequent and intense.
The Asian giant also presents itself as a world leader in renewable energies and aims for carbon neutrality by 2060.
