The Chinese State Council plans to launch a probe after the death toll from flooding in Henan Province surged from 99 to 302, according to official media reports.
The State Council decided to carry out a “comprehensive and objective assessment” of Henan’s disaster response, which is to be led by the Chinese Ministry of Emergency Management, in a bid to improve disaster prevention and relief, Xinhua News Agency said.
The probe would also “hold anyone responsible for dereliction of duty,” the report said.
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The majority of deaths occurred in the provincial capital, Zhengzhou, where 292 people were killed after torrential waters led to landslides, buildings collapsing and the flooding of underground spaces, the Henan Daily reported.
Fifty people are missing across the province, including 47 in Zhengzhou.
According to the official tally, 14 people drowned in submerged subway cars, while another six were killed in a swamped tunnel.
The deaths prompted residents to ask whether the city government had failed to warn the public, shut down transportation in advance and provide timely rescue efforts.
Zhengzhou, a city of 10 million, received a year’s worth of rain in just three days last month, starting July 20.
Across Henan — a hub for agricultural and food production, coal and metals as well as heavy industry — more than 14.53 million people were affected, and direct economic losses reached 114.3 billion yuan (US$17.68 billion), the provincial government said.
The flood-battered city now faces the challenge of battling a COVID-19 outbreak.
It reported a total of 63 infections by Monday evening, including 50 people who were tested positive but have no symptoms, the Zhengzhou government said in a briefing.
It has also been conducting city-wide nucleic acid tests since Sunday, after a cluster of SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant infections were found at a local hospital. The director of the city’s health commission was sacked for negligence over the weekend.
The floods and their aftermath also added to the tensions between China and the West after the provincial branch of the Communist Youth League, an official arm of the ruling party, used social media to urge members of the public to confront a BBC reporter over his coverage of the disaster. Later, a correspondent for German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle was confronted in Zhengzhou by a crowd of people.
The incidents prompted the US to express concern over harassment and intimidation of foreign correspondents in China.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian (趙立堅) said the comments “distort facts, confuse right with wrong, and aim to pressure China with unfounded charges,” adding that the rights of foreign journalists were “fully protected.”
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