Some still live in makeshift shelters after flooding along the Yangtze River killed 800 people and forced 5.5 million to evacuate their homes last summer. Others suffer from a drought that has continued for 220 days, leaving some 3.5 million farmers and herders without food or a means to earn a living. And the latest disaster, the recent earthquakes, have forced thousands more to live in flimsy tents for the winter. While an early warning system saved many lives, the twin quakes have added tremendous strains on government and relief agencies already struggling to care for millions of homeless and hungry disaster victims of droughts and floods. The magnitude 5.9 and 6.5 quakes ravaged mountainous counties in the southwest province of Yunnan, destroying homes in some of the poorest and coldest areas in China.
Survivors eat rice salvaged from the ruins or donated food.
The homeless, mostly farmers, have made tents of straw and plastic, which do little to block the strong mountainous wind or to protect them from frigid temperatures, snow, and rain. The money will be used to distribute food, blankets, warm clothing, and other relief items over the next three months. Other relief agencies have appealed for donations to help quake victims survive the harsh conditions. But freezing temperatures in the mountains have hampered relief efforts. Roads blocked by ice and snow have prevented convoys of supplies from reaching the remote counties of Mile and Qiubei, two of the worst hit areas.