CHINA: Snow-hit China leaves thousands stranded at Guangzhou's main railway station

Record ID: 1403226

  • Title: CHINA: Snow-hit China leaves thousands stranded at Guangzhou's main railway station
  • Date: 3rd February 2008
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) DR ZHANG SAYING: "We are here on the front-line to give immediate medical help to those affected. We can give items for them to keep warm, food supplements and basic medicine to ensure their well-being. If it is an emergency, we will call the hotline and the command centre will have ambulances at their disposal." MEDICAL STAFF LOOKING FOR MEDICINE MEDICINE IN BASKET
  • Embargoed: 18th February 2008 12:28
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes,Weather
  • Reuters ID: LVA63ACLR768XV9NO1WO3VFX41VF
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: There have been chaotic scenes at Guangzhou railway station as tens of thousands of people try to get home for the Lunar New Year holiday. Heavy snow continues to batter transportation all across the country leaving many stranded.
    A stampede at southern China's Guangzhou railway station killed a migrant worker when frustrated passengers rushed to board trains after days of cancellations because of fierce cold and snow, police confirmed on Sunday (February 3).
    The migrant worker was crushed to death as Guangzhou station was besieged by tens of thousands of people hoping to get home to celebrate the most important holiday in the Chinese calendar, the Lunar New Year.
    Authorities said it was the first stampede death of the weather crisis that has killed more than 60, mainly in road accidents.
    Passengers at the station, which has been beseiged by 260, people trying to get home for the holiday, said police and soldiers added more layers of cordons on Sunday to hold the swarming crowds back. China's state Xinhua news agency said the security force at the station numbers 12,000.
    The daily scenes of tens of thousands of tired and frustrated passengers trying to squeeze their way through the cordons did not abate.

    "That was scary. I almost couldn't stop myself from being pushed over. People are just pushing against each other just now. There are too many people, I feel relieved to come over here now," said 30-year-old Ding Laixi.

    "There is no way I can describe how it is like. Look at all these people, we are so tightly squeezed together. I do not know how to describe that feeling," added 23-year-old Peng Xionbao.
    Officials warned people to stay away from railway stations because service was recovering only slowly and was further strained as trains were commandeered to deliver emergency supplies to areas of the country battered by the worst winter weather in 50 years.
    Authorities in Guangzhou said their priority was to clear the backlog of thousands still waiting at the railway station, having cajoled millions more migrant workers to stay put and skip what for many is their only chance each year to visit family.
    More than ten medical stations have been set up in the area with medical staff and volunteers from nearby hospitals and military units to help cope with emergencies.
    Doctors said they are usually busy treating passengers who suffer from exhaustion and illness associated with being out in the cold.

    "We are here on the front-line to give immediate medical help to those affected. We can give items for them to keep warm, food supplements and basic medicine to ensure their well-being. If it is an emergency, we will call the hotline and the command centre will have ambulances at their disposal," said Dr. Zhang.
    Experts forecast the freak winter could continue past Chinese New Year, which will be celebrated mid-week, and said the cold and storms in areas unaccustomed to such weather was the country's worst natural disaster in decades.
    Meanwhile, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited Chenzhou, a city with four million people whose water and power supply has been cut for nearly 10 days in southern China's Hunan province, local television reported on Sunday (February 3).
    Wen arrived in the icy city and visited a community that was packed by people waiting to greet the premier.
    Without water or electricity, candles and charcoal were used to fend off the cold. Chenzhou is located in southern China heavy snow is unusual.
    The worst snow storm in 50 years have put down several hundred power pylons in Chenzhou. The national power supply authority has dispatched nearly 2,000 electricity engineers from all over the country to help with repairing power facilities in the area.
    But authorities said there would be no timetable as when power supply would be resumed.
    Snowfall across central and southern China have eased on Sunday (February 3), CCTV said, but financial hub Shanghai and neighbouring Zhejiang province in eastern China is reported to be still suffering from snowstorms on Sunday where snow piles accumulated up to at least 20 centimetres.
    Choked transportation along the Beijing - Zhuhai highway were slowly making way, CCTV said. Traffic on sections in border areas between Hunan and Guangdong provinces were gradually resuming as thousands of stalled buses and trucks began to move. Some of the drivers and passengers have been trapped on road for nine days.
    Emergency crews were still struggling to restore power to parts of southern China blacked out for a week.
    Xinhua reported China has deployed more than 300,000 troops and nearly
    1 million militia and army reservists to get traffic moving and ensure power supplies.
    The blizzards have created China's worst-ever power crisis after toppled power lines and icy rails crippled the rail network, holding up thousands of coal trains.
    Miners are now working overtime and, as the railways creak back to life, coal shipments are being given priority, reducing crowded passenger trains to a crawl.
    The government has put the immediate economic losses of the weather chaos at $7.5 billion. It says that 223,000 houses have been toppled by snow or ice and 862,000 damaged.
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