China floods: why did death toll rise so sharply after 3 weeks?
- The three-fold increase in confirmed deaths has fuelled fears of a cover-up following last month’s heavy rains in Henan province
- Flood management expert Yin Jie says bureaucracy and the slow pace of recovery may be factors, and says the count is likely to continue to rise
The process of counting the death toll from last month’s catastrophic flooding in central China has been delayed by bureaucracy and the slow pace of recovery, a flood management specialist has said.
Yin, from East China Normal University’s school of geographic science, suggested the death toll was likely to continue to rise over the coming weeks and even months, especially in rural areas that are only beginning to recover “from the aftermath of black swan floods”.
So far, 292 people have been confirmed dead in the provincial capital of Zhengzhou after the area was hit by extreme torrential rains which started on July 17.
Another seven deaths were reported in Xinxiang, two in Pingdingshan and one in Luohe. A further 50 people, including 47 from Zhengzhou, were still missing as of Monday.
Further questions have been raised by the fact that only seven deaths have been reported in villages near Xinxiang city, even though many rural areas were inundated by muddy floodwaters.
02:17
China floods death toll triples after Henan officials revise figures, announce investigation