Chinese public fear repeat abuse of flood relief funds after it emerges over US$1 billion in aid for 2021 was misused

Internet users react with anger after its emerged that up to half the money earmarked for Henan province after the 2021 floods was diverted elsewhere
Reports on the topic circulating extensively online even as rescue operations in the north and northeast of the country were continuing

Accidents, extreme weather and disasters in China

Yuanyue Dangin Beijing

Published: 9:26pm, 7 Aug 2023

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Reports that flood relief funds had been siphoned off have sparked anger in China and prompted fears that the same thing may happen again after this month’s devastating floods.

Late last month an audit report by the Henan provincial government documented how about 10 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion) of reconstruction funds earmarked for the 2021 summer flooding in Henan had been misused or siphoned off for other uses by local officials.

The story started spreading quickly online late last week after a commentary on the issue was published by state-run Guangming Daily even as rescue efforts continued in the north and northeast of the country.

More than 30 people have been killed after heavy floods hit Beijing and provinces such as Hebei, Jilin and Heilongjiang last week, with the capital recording its heaviest rainfall in 140 years.

The central government has so far allocated 520 million yuan of relief funds to the worst hit regions.

The 2021 summer flooding in Henan, which killed almost 400 people, caused a nationwide uproar because of the heavy death toll and a poor emergency response by local officials.

According to a report released in January 2022 by a State Council investigation team, the “historically rare heavy rainfall” that hit the central province had affected nearly 15 million people and resulted in economic losses of over 120 billion yuan.

Henan province has not published how much it has spent on reconstruction but media reports said the figure amounted to at least 20 billion yuan.

In November 2021 the authorities pledged, in an article for the official Zhengzhou Daily newspaper, to “seriously enforce financial discipline, strengthen fund management, and urge cities and counties to deliver funds directly to the grass roots and the affected people as soon as possible to ensure that the valuable relief and reconstruction funds are used properly”.

However, the audit report uncovered a series of problems. In one case it found that nine counties and a provincial government-controlled enterprise were allocated a total of 405 million yuan but they had failed to use them in accordance with rules.

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Rescue operations continue after severe flooding in northern China from Typhoon Doksuri

Another two counties were discovered to have diverted over 30 million yuan of reconstruction funds.

“Construction funds are specially issued by the state, so why haven’t they been used for the people? Who is so daring? Was there any regulation?” the Guangming Daily commentary said.

“It must be clear that the money belongs to the state and the people, and how it is used must be investigated thoroughly.”

Hashtags relating to the report were blocked on the social media platform Weibo, but posts on the issue were widely shared with some attracting thousands of comments.

One popular comment on the platform said simply: “Hebei will soon be Zhengzhou in 2021.”

One of the most liked responses to a post from the media outlet iFeng.com that was shared or commented on more than 15,000 times read: “What an embarrassing piece of news to happen at this moment.”

Another reply said: “Let’s not donate money [for relief] now because of this.”