The China Red Cross Society will appeal to the international community for disaster relief assistance for millions of flood victims in east China's Anhui Province, said Sun Aiming, vice chairman of the society, in a meeting with Governor Wang Jinshan Thursday.
The official has been leading a delegation from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) since Tuesday to assess the flood situation in the province. The team includes two representatives from the international organization, Thorir Gudmundsson and Niels Juel.
Sun praised the local government's efforts to relieve flood victims and pledged that Chinese society will spare no efforts to assist the province and will also appeal for international donations for local flood victims.
Niels, who has been working for the International Red Cross (ICRC) for seven years, said Anhui's flood situation is the worst he has ever seen. "I am deeply impressed by the local government's ability to cope with disasters," he said.
Anhui has been experiencing severe floods since late June. As of July 16, the flooding had killed 17 people and affected 27 million, and generated 14.73 billion yuan (about US$1.78 billion) in financial losses to the province.
The governor says the flood situation is worsening and that the work of rebuilding will be difficult.
(China Daily July 18, 2003)
