Refugees to Get New Homes Soon ����The basic necessities of life for refugees from China's 13 worst flood-hit regions have been ensured for this winter, as reported from the Ministry of Civil Affairs on January 12. Most of the refugees are expected to move into new homes before Spring Festival. ����"Most of the homeless have been provided with adequate supply of food and winter clothing. Those who live in make-shift homes or who are sharing houses with relatives are expected to move into new houses provided by governments at various levels", Vice-Minister Fan Baojun said at a news conference held in Beijing yesterday. ����Fan said disaster-relief work has been a great success as a result of great attention paid by the central government and unremitting efforts made by local civil affairs bureaus. ����China declared victory in anti-flood efforts last October, winding up a two-month, life-and-death battle ending in September. ����The Yangtze River Valley had been hit by eight successive flood peaks. Dykes along the 360-kilometre-long Yangtze River section were endangered by water levels exceeding historical records for more than two months. ����Record-breaking floods also hit the Nenjiang River and Songhua River Valley, with three successive flood peaks. ����Fan announced that natural disasters, including snowfall, earthquakes, drought and typhoons had affected more than 350 million people across the nation, leaving 5,511 dead and forcing the relocation of 20.8 million residents. ����More than 24 million houses were pulled down or damaged while 25 million hectares of cultivated land were destroyed, direct economic losses amounting to more than RMB$300.7 billion yuan (US$36 billion), according to ministry statistics. ����More than 180 million residents were affected by last summer's wet spell, the worst natural disaster since 1954 that battered Chongqing Municipality, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu, Heilongjiang and Jilin, Fujian, Sichuan provinces, Guangxi Zhuang and Inner Mongolia autonomous regions. ����The ministry reported that 4,150 residents had become victimized to floods, adding 494 to earlier death toll reports. Direct economic losses were placed at RMB$255 billion yuan (US$30 billion). ����China's top officials, including Jiang Zemin, Li Peng, Zhu Rongji, Li Ruihuan and Hu Jintao made inspections of the flooding and directed the anti-flood drive and disaster-relief work. ����The State has allocated RMB$8.3 billion yuan (US$100 million) of disaster-relief funds and sent millions of clothes, quilts and tents to assist the refugees. ����"To date, we have pooled RMB$11.3 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion) to help the refugees settle down and start a new life," said Fan, "and their daily necessities such as food, clothing, medicine and housing have been basically ensured." ����Official statistics indicate the ministry, China's Charity Federation and the China Red Cross have received RMB$3.5 billion yuan (US$421 million) in cash and RMB$3.7 billion yuan (US$445 million) worth of material from people of all walks of life. ����More than 89 percent of the donations came from the Chinese mainland, 3.7 percent from Hong Kong and Macao, with another 6.5 percent from international communities, Fan said. ���� HomeNews 1999-01-13 Page4 Full Story in Chinese