Flood chaos across China: Ill-prepared provinces will have to answer to Beijing

The widespread flooding in China is affecting many provinces, from Guangdong (廣東), Hubei (湖北) and Anhui (安徽) to Hebei (河北). Judging by the way in which the central government, local administrations and the military are dealing with the worst flooding since 1998, there are significant features of how President Xi Jinping (習近平) and his subordinates are managing the events.

First and foremost, although the Pearl River flood control authorities warned in March that flooding this year could be as serious as in 1998, when some 3,000 people were killed, local governments in the affected provinces appear to have been ill-prepared. Even though the Office of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters echoed the assessment of the Pearl River authorities, it has become apparent that local officials in many cities, including Wuhan (武漢), failed to take sufficient preventive measures against the imminent flooding along the Yangtze River.

As a result, Xi on July 21 made the strongest comment yet on the disaster, saying that the flooding was “very serious”, that local government officials should no longer adopt “a numb mentality” and leave avoiding natural disasters to chance, and that all measures had to be taken to prevent further flooding and protect citizens’ safety.

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Xi also mentioned six major measures that must be taken at once by local authorities: one, the implementation of a clear responsibility system; two, the need for scientific prediction of natural disasters; three, the consolidation of infrastructure works like dams to prevent further flooding; fourth, the urgent protection of citizens; fifth, the necessity of joint action by citizens and officials to deal with the floods; and sixth, the imperative of better water construction work after the current disaster.