Amid economic slowdown, China's Xi calls for measures to mitigate devastating floods

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Amid economic slowdown, China's Xi calls for measures to mitigate devastating floods

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has called for measures to mitigate the effects of this year's devastating floods, which have killed scores of people and caused massive damage to crops, homes and infrastructure, including in and around Beijing.To get more news about city services, you can citynewsservice.cn official website.

At least 90 rivers have risen above warning levels and 24 have already burst their banks, according to state media, threatening a vast area of northeastern China with flooding, including the Songliao Basin north of the capital, which covers more than 1.2 million square kilometres (482,200 square miles) and is home to nearly 100 million people.

"As China is still in the peak flood season, rainstorms, floods, typhoons and other disasters are still frequent in many places across the country," the official Xinhua news agency said, summarising the conclusions of Thursday's meeting of the party's all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee, presided over by Xi.

Participants "urged relevant localities and departments to always put the safety of people's lives and property first and continue to do a good job in flood prevention and disaster relief," Xinhua said.

The reinforcement of dams and the efficient use of disaster relief funds to "repair damaged infrastructure such as transportation, communication and electricity, and restore farmland and agricultural facilities" are crucial, it said.

Schools, hospitals and nursing homes must be quickly repaired, along with damaged housing "to ensure that affected residents can return home or move to new homes before winter".

This year's floods have also affected large parts of the central and eastern parts of the country, both in the semi-tropical south and the northern plains.
Meteorologists warned that thunderstorms, gales and hail would hit parts of Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Hebei, Beijing and Tianjin in the north, and Henan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Fujian in the centre and south-east.

The bad weather comes as economic growth slowed to 0.8% in the three months to June, down from 2.2% in January-March. That translates into an annual rate of 3.2%, which would be among China's weakest in decades.

A survey in June showed unemployment among urban workers aged 16 to 24 had risen to a record 21.3%. The statistics bureau said this week it would withhold updates while it refined its measurement.

In a recent speech published by Qiushi, the party's top theoretical magazine, Xi called for patience as the party tries to reverse the deepening economic slump.

It came hours after data on Tuesday showed consumer and factory activity weakened further in July, despite official pledges to support struggling entrepreneurs. The government skipped an update on a politically sensitive rise in youth unemployment.