JUST like last year after heavy rains we have had to watch the heartbreaking scenes of floods in southern Guangdong.
Hong Kong people have donated more than $127 million to the Xinhua (New China News Agency) relief fund. As the proverb goes: ''Blood is thicker than water''.
Also, the Hong Kong Government has offered more than $2.5 million in aid and the Taiwan Red Cross has also launched some relief campaigns.
However, while I believe it is important for us to show concern for the flood victims, it is also important to analyse the wider issues involved. The fund-raising campaigns gave immediate relief, but they should not be seen as a long-term solution.
The havoc wreaked by the rains and floods, exposed two faults which the relevant Chinese authorities must rectify - firstly, the inability of the dams to prevent flooding and secondly, the rather slow reaction of the party leadership in Beijing to deal with this crisis. Clearly, a more rapid response is needed from central government when natural disasters occur.
With regard to the dams in China, the regularity and magnitude of the flooding would suggest that either they are poorly managed, or have design defects.
According to press reports, half a dozen dams were breached by flood water, because there were not enough dams in the first place. Given this problem, it is essential that the Chinese Government sets up a co-ordinating group with personnel who have the technical expertise to re-evaluate the dams and look at what went wrong with their construction, so that similar disasters can be prevented in the future.
