All road and rail transport is stable as millions of people
return from their Spring Festival celebrations in the wake of the
devastating snowstorms that have plagued large parts of the
country, the disaster relief and emergency command center under the
State Council said in a release on Sunday night.
"We have managed to ease access to transportation amid the snowy
weather, and major highways and railways have resumed normal
order," the center said in a daily brief.
By Sunday, the State Grid had restored the power supply to 22
million customers, or 92.7 percent of those affected.
Highway transportation, which was severely affected by the
month-long snow disaster in many parts of the country, has also
returned to normal. About 28 million people traveled on expressways
and trunk roads on Sunday, up six million over the previous
day.
However, some roads in Zhejiang and Yunnan provinces were still
closed because of ice, and traffic flows were affected in Yunnan
because of icy rain, the brief said.
Some 4,291 flights carrying 535,000 passengers took off on
Sunday, 23,000 more than a day earlier.
Also, some 460,000 people and more than 5,000 vehicles
dispatched by the China Southern Power Grid had contributed to the
repair of 4,800 power transmission lines. In particular, 68.4
percent of the lines in the southwestern Guizhou province are back
in use.
As affected areas gradually recover, health departments have so
far dispatched 155,600 medical professionals in a bid to prevent
major public health incidents.
Nonetheless, land and meteorological authorities in Hunan, the
hardest-hit province, have warned of a snow-induced secondary
disaster.
In a joint statement, the provincial land and resources
department and meteorological station released this year's first
early warning of a geological disaster, while calling on residents
to remain alert to potential geological abnormalities.
The snow is still 1-7 cm deep in most mountainous regions of
Hunan. Collapses, landslides and debris flows may occur as it melts
in the coming days, the statement said.
Small-scale secondary disasters are nothing new in some areas.
On February 3, a gas station in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu
province, collapsed because of heavy snow, leaving four dead and 16
injured. In the previous week, incidents involving residents
falling to the ground while cleaning their roofs were common.
(China Daily, Xinhua News Agency February 12, 2008)