Photo:CCTV

 Heavy rainfall continued to batter northern China, including Beijing and surrounding regions, on Monday and Tuesday, triggering natural disasters in multiple areas and prompting the deployment of advanced technologies, such as satellites and drones — for rescue and relief operations.

In the city of Chengde, Hebei Province, a landslide struck Xigou village in the Luanping county following intense downpours. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) immediately activated its emergency response mechanism for civil and commercial satellite resources, coordinating satellite imaging of Luanping and surrounding areas, CCTV News reported on Tuesday.

The first batch of satellite images was then shared with emergency units such as the National Disaster Reduction Center of China and the High-resolution Earth Observation Center of Hebei Province. The CNSA will continue to mobilize satellite resources to support disaster relief operations in Luanping, providing spatial data to aid in disaster assessment and decision-making, CCTV reported.

In Beijing's Huairou district, several villages have been affected since the onset of the heavy rainfall. As some residents remain stranded due to damaged mountain roads, local rescue teams have deployed multiple drones to air-drop over 3,000 relief packages — containing bottled water, bread, sausages, and other essentials — across 21 locations to meet residents' basic needs, CCTV News reported.

According to firefighters, the drones can carry up to 30 kilograms of relief supplies and are equipped with loudspeakers to direct residents to designated pickup areas. The drones are also fitted with video equipment to monitor the condition of people on the ground, CCTV added.

Widespread torrential rains have recently swept across East, North and Northeast China, triggering floods and geological disasters that caused significant casualties and property damage in Beijing, Hebei, Jilin and Shandong, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

In response to the emergencies, China's Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Emergency Management allocated 350 million yuan ($48.8 million) from the central natural disaster relief fund on July 29 to support emergency rescue and assistance efforts in nine provinces and regions, according to Xinhua.

Global Times