China mobilizes 729,000 troops to combat snow disastersBEIJING, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- The People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China had deployed 729,000 soldiers by 6:00 p.m. Thursday to combat the month-long winter storms in the southern parts of the country, a military source said.
About 1.96 million militia and army reservists were participating in the disaster relief effort, the PLA's emergency response group told Xinhua. The PLA currently has 2.3 million troops.
Unusual tactics, including shooting power lines with submachine guns to shatter the ice, and using tanks to crush ice on roads, were often used by soldiers.
(Xinhua Photo)
Older article - City of 4.6 million without power for weeks. Scary situation.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-02/01/content_7547456.htm
Winter storms leave Chinese dark, cold, hungry in “dead cities”
www.chinaview.cn 2008-02-01 23:56:11 Print
CHANGSHA, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) — With heavy snow snarling much of China for the past three weeks, cutting power and disrupting transportation, people in many areas have been living in what they call “dead cities”.
“Without water to cook and electricity for heat, life has become really inconvenient,” said one freshman from Changsha University of Science and Technology, who had just returned to his home in Chenzhou, in southern Hunan. With the Spring Festival approaching, the student said, he didn’t sense any holiday atmosphere.
In Hunan’s capital city of Changsha, many shops, including several large supermarkets, were closed because of electricity shortages. Conditions in the city were similar to those elsewhere in weather-stricken areas. For example, at night, the city – with a population of 4.6 million — was largely dark, except for lights in a few hotels. Those hotels were full of families who had brought electric heaters.