The Heart of Darkness of an "Olympic Host" -- Millions of Chinese still
without power/IHT
International Herald Tribune
Millions of Chinese still without power
Reuters
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
TONGREN, China: Millions of Chinese began the biggest holiday of the
year without power Wednesday after more than a week of fierce winter
weather, but tens of thousands of stranded passengers had finally found
trains, buses and planes by which to get home for family reunions.
Scores had died in snow-related accidents in days before the Lunar New
Year break, one of the greatest annual migrations of humanity, with the
traditional travel chaos compounded by the coldest winter in 100 years
across vast swaths of the south, center and east.
Skies were clearer across most of the country Wednesday, and a three-day
rain and snow "severe alert" was lifted for the worst-affected areas.
Temperatures had risen to well above freezing in the south.
Whole cities have had their power and water cut off for more than a
week, and 11 electricians have been killed trying to reconnect lines or
break ice encasing poles and cables. Livestock and crops have been
destroyed.
The remote town****p of Wengxiang in the snowy mountains of Guizhou
hasn't had electricity since Jan. 14. Residents also have to negotiate
steep, icy paths to fetch water in buckets because pipes are frozen or
cracked.
"At night, it's like a blanket of darkness," said a resident, Pan
Zhengkai, who added that families ate their dinner at 4 p.m., before
darkness set in.
"I guess we'll have to have the new year celebrations in darkness," he
said. "We can't afford candles."
Chenzhou, a city in the central province of Hunan and the worst hit,
began its 12th day without power on Wednesday after a short-lived
resumption on Tuesday night.
"Power supply will be restored gradually for citizens in Chenzhou
starting today," Huang Qiang, vice general manager of Hunan Electric
Power, was quoted as saying by Xinhua, the official news agency.
About 1,000 pylons and poles had collapsed under the weight of ice and
snow, which means the local grid, which took decades to build, had
effectively been destroyed, Xinhua said.
Across the country, 170 of more than 2,000 counties had suffered
outages. By Tuesday night, 131 counties had had their power restored, or
partially restored.
Rising prices of coal, vegetables, ****k, rice and other staples have
added to the holiday misery, but the sea of travelers waiting for
trains, especially in Guangzhou in the south, had cleared.
Many mostly poor, migrant workers had already given up trying to get a
ticket and opted to stay put. "Millions of Chinese had to say 'sorry' to
their loved ones," Xinhua said.
But the holiday preparations continued, including a group of small boys
and young men in Wengxiang, roosters under their arms, getting ready for
a cockfight. Firecrackers, which will explode across China for much of
the next 10 days, had already started.
"The biggest problem has been keeping the children warm at night," said
a farmer, Ye Xiaoling, in the Wanshan area of the Guizhou prefecture of
Tongren, which has also been without power since January. "Our problem
is that our homes and everything else are not used to such cold."
She also said the children had complained that they would not be able to
watch the traditional state TV entertainment special, often described as
the most watched on Earth, which many will have to listen to by radio.
With safety in mind, the Beijing city government sent out an SMS wi****ng
residents a happy Spring Festival, a period when firework accidents kill
some and injure many across the country.
"Please set off fireworks in a legal, civilized and safe manner," it said.
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