page_title: 2008 Chinese winter storms
section_title: Government response
hierarchical_section_title: 2008 Chinese winter storms / Effects / Government response
caption_attribution_description: 中文: 2008年1月上海下雪雪
context_page_description: The 2008 Chinese winter storms were a series of winter storm events that affected large portions of southern and central China, where usually do not snow severely or extensively, starting on 25 January 2008 until 6 February 2008. The systems affected most of the area with heavy snows, ice and cold temperatures causing extensive damage and transportation disruption for several thousand travelers. It became China's worst winter weather in half a century. According to some media sources the storms were directly responsible for at least 129 deaths.
context_section_description: The winter storms marked the largest national mass mobilization since the 2003 SARS crisis and is comparable in size to the relief efforts of the 1998 Yangtze River Floods. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao issued an apology to citizens regarding the situation in a public televised appearance at a railway station in Changsha, Hunan. He mentioned that the electrical system would be first to be fixed before restoring normal train operations for Lunar New Year holiday travellers. The severe weather also led to an emergency meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China chaired by General Secretary Hu Jintao to discuss ways in order to control the situation.
  About 300,000 troops and 1.1 million reservists were deployed to assist relief efforts and snow removal across various parts of affected regions. The government also announced a $700 million (2008 USD) plan for helping farmers who had their crops destroyed by the winter weather. In addition, the government spent over 330 million yuan for local disaster relief operations. On 1 February, Premier Wen held a State Council meeting to discuss matters related to the snowstorms, and immediately afterwards flew out to Hunan to inspect relief efforts. General Secretary, President Hu visited various coal mines to urge them to help end power shortages.
  There were also reports that China would invest significantly in better forecasting and cooperation between weather departments in the event of future storms as there were reports of criticism of the weather agencies. According to the China Meteorological Administration, there are plans to invest nearly 2 billion yuan (US$300 million) for the improvement of the weather forecasting work, which was reportedly approved by the State Council, the Chinese Cabinet.
  In addition, several weather experts from the meteorological office told that the country was not properly prepared to face a winter weather event of this magnitude. Some had praised northern parts of the country for their emergency plans in unusual weather. but have criticized those from southern parts. The Chinese Meteorological Administration also added that officials were not expecting such a lengthy episode of severe winter weather with an extensive impact across a large area.
  Premier Wen Jiabao spent Chinese New Year in Jiangxi while inspecting relief efforts.
caption: Snow in Shanghai
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