No government aid in wake of Typhoon Saomai
Residents have claimed the death toll and damages are much higher than the local government admits to. The authorities have been accused of delayed intervention and of failing to deliver food and other aid to victims, however they have proved to be alert in banning contact with journalists.
Beijing (AsiaNews/SCMP) Residents of Fujian have not received any aid in food or in cash more than a week after they were struck by Typhoon Saomai, the strongest storm to hit China in 50 years. Local authorities have been accused of hiding the true extent of the damage.
The residents said the local government did not search for missing persons in the first two days after the storm, a delay that makes it harder or even impossible to recover many of the bodies. A woman who lost three relatives said: "We had to hire boats by ourselves to go out and recover the bodies. But many boats refused to go because they were afraid. Eventually our family had to pay 5,000 yuan a day to get a boat. Now the government sent vessels to help but it is too late."
Xia Mingyang, a fisherman of Shacheng, said: "People even had to find 3,000 yuan to pay to cremate their relatives. If not, no one would take care of the bodies."
No material aid has yet reached the people who are homeless and without work. "Almost everything in Shacheng went with the typhoon. The township is isolated, with no power, no food and no water supplies," continued Xia. "People are homeless and are sleeping in the open as they cry for their missing relatives."
He said the only time the authorities displayed efficiency was when they forbade residents to talk to journalists from other cities.
Wen Chonghai, director of the Fujian Civil Affairs Department's disaster relief office, said: "The government has raised millions of yuan to help relief efforts. But detailed measures are still being examined. We will launch aid programmes as soon as possible."
"So far, we haven't received one penny of relief from the government," Xia said, urging donors to help people directly, even for reconstruction. "More than 99% of Shacheng people depend on fishing and aquaculture. We have lost our livelihoods. If the government does not help us, all we can do is stay here and wait to die or to emigrate."
Meanwhile, the official death toll has risen to 319 after another 24 bodies were recovered in Fuding, the hardest hit town. Tang Yi, Fuding Party secretary, admitted that the number of victims was not clear because rescue workers were hampered by a lack of funding and equipment. But residents of Shacheng said more than 1,000 people died and charged the government with trying to cover up the true extent of the disaster. In just Nanzheng, a small village separated from Shacheng by a narrow strait, more than 100 people were said to be missing.
Another fisherman, Wu Guojia, said he found six bodies at his ruined fish farm. He also saw a navy gunboat capsize in the storm while trying to rescue two fishing boats. "Later, I saw at least a dozen corpses in the water," Mr Wu said.
According to a local official, at least 600 of the 10,000 vessels moored in Shacheng's harbour had sunk in the storm. Damage known to date is more than 59,000 destroyed houses in Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangxi, and economic losses amounting to at least 11 billion yuan (around 1.1 billion euros) as of today.
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