Flood victims still facing food shortage

By Jiang Yabin Source:Global Times Published: 2013-10-11 0:53:01

A shoe store owner and her employee busily dry up hundreds of pairs of shoes on top of a bicycle shed in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, on Thursday, after the flood brought by Typhoon Fitow receded. Photo: CFP

A shoe store owner and her employee busily dry up hundreds of pairs of shoes on top of a bicycle shed in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, on Thursday, after the flood brought by Typhoon Fitow receded. Photo: CFP

Residents in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province are still suffering from shortages of food and electricity and the slowly receding flood in the wake of Typhoon Fitow on Thursday, with complaints prevailing that local government responded slowly to the emergency.

Although Yuyao authorities said they had prepared enough food and water for 15 days, many caught in the flood are still suffering from a shortage of food supply. A hungry man even fought for food with a volunteer who delivered goods to the flooded area at Fengshan street on Wednesday, reported the news portal youth.cn.

The situation is even worse in some rural areas as goods and rescuers had not yet arrived, a resident surnamed Feng in Macaotou village, told the Global Times Thursday.

Feng has failed to contact his father, who was trapped in a factory near the village with his cell phone powered off. Water and electricity supplies have been cut off in the village.

Companies, social organizations and people from in and out of town were offering help, said a woman surnamed Jiang, who works in a holiday resort in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province.

The resort has sent thousands of bottles of water and more than 100 canoes to Yuyao, Jiang told the Global Times.

Yuyao authorities have set up some 300 shelters offering accommodation for nearly 100,000 residents, the authorities said at a press conference Wednesday.

However, residents in the shelters were also getting little food. The deep flood prevents light vehicles from transporting food to the shelters and only heavy trucks and canoes can travel in the water, said Zhao Xujun, a man who is in charge of a shelter in Jianjiang village that houses 6,000 people.

"Hungry residents always steal all the goods before they are transported to our shelters and we are also in need of quilts," Zhao told the Global Times.

Yuyao authorities admitted that they did not foresee that the disaster would be so severe and they failed to warn residents before the disaster, the Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday.

Local government announced Thursday that gas supply had been resumed, with water and electricity supplies partially fixed, and that the city was trying its best to repair transportation and expedite goods delivery.

Staffers were also sent to monitor environmental factors to prevent epidemics and ensure water hygiene, said the government.

Peng Xizhe, dean of the School of Social Development and Public Policy at Fudan University, said Yuyao authorities responded slowly to the disaster because they were unable to direct and coordinate government agencies including water and civil affairs authorities to work together. Meanwhile, the Ningbo government, which administers Yuyao, failed to offer powerful help.



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