China remains committed to addressing poverty in regions impacted by flooding

The continuous rainfall that some parts of China experienced in July and August caused the worst flooding that the country has experienced in decades, resulting in numerous complications as the nation makes its way through the final year of its campaign to eliminate absolute poverty in its borders. The government made efforts to ensure that citizens who were affected by flooding had access to basic necessities and could continue to secure their livelihoods, industries that are conducive to helping people emerge from poverty were able to recover and continue to develop, and no one fell into poverty as a result of disaster.

Providing necessities and emergency shelter to flood victims

Approximately 54.811 million people in 27 provinces, regions, and municipalities in China had been affected by flooding as of July 28, of whom 3.76 million were forced to evacuate.

Residents of Jiangxi province’s Guihu village were evacuated to a primary school in Poyang county and lived temporarily in disinfected classrooms. They were provided with daily necessities and also had access to medical services.

The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters and the Ministry of Emergency Management called for the reinforcement of the dams protecting Zhuangtais – residential areas on raised ground in flood buffer zones, careful adherence to COVID-19 prevention and control measures, and the provision of emergency evacuation shelters with good conditions. Flood victims received essentials at many shelters across the country as the “dikes” that stave off the impacts of flooding and the pandemic had been strengthened.

A total of 39,633 people from the Dabie mountains, the Huaihe river region, both sides of the Yangtze River, the mountainous areas in the southern part of Anhui were relocated to 464 temporary shelters as of July 27, and the government distributed food, clothing, and other necessities to them.

Community-level officials, rescue workers, medical staff, and hospital fever clinics all engaged in COVID-19 prevention and control efforts at schools and other sanitary locations that had been converted into temporary centralized shelters in Hubei province. Infections were identified and treated as quickly as possible in order to contain the pandemic.

Officials and other responders in Jiangxi province took measures such as providing professional psychological counselling services and making dancing and bodybuilding events and other entertainment available in order to reduce the pressure that flooding put on the province’s residents.

Resuming operations in industries that help people emerge from poverty

Located at the edge of Poyang lake, the largest freshwater lake in China, Jiulong town in Yugan county, Jiangxi experienced severe flooding, including on 800 ha of its farmland.

“I was going to sell my crayfish at the end of August, but the floods washed them away,” Jiulong’s Min’an villager Wan Gaoxing mentioned. The 43-year-old farmer began growing rice and raising crayfish a few years ago, which made it possible for him to emerge from poverty in 2018. “I must replant my rice, continue to pursue my aquaculture endeavors, and do everything I can to reduce my losses after the floods recede,” Wan continued. He worked on these endeavors every day after the floodwaters receded.

Luo Guosheng, deputy director of the Yugan County Poverty Alleviation Office, stated that 269 impoverished villages in the county had been affected by flooding and that more than 20 million yuan’s (US$2.87’s million) worth of damage was caused to industries that help people escape from poverty.

“We insured poverty eradication related industries in 2017,” Luo explained. “We have been in close contact with the insurance companies that are involved since the flooding began and have been doing a good job of handling the claims made as a result of flooding.” The official explained that this system helped people resume business operations and return to normal life as quickly as possible.

The Ministry of Emergency Management indicated that flooding had damaged 5.2833 million ha’s worth of crops in 27 provinces, regions, and municipalities in China and caused 144.43 billion yuan (US$20.73 billion) of direct economic losses as of July 28.

Industrial development is a fundamental part of eliminating poverty. China’s authorities endeavored to help impoverished households continue working in industries that help them escape from poverty.

Policies were issued by the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development that support impoverished citizens’ efforts to replant their crops, continue raising livestock, and resume other business operations in order to minimize the impact of flooding on poverty-stricken people.

The Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Emergency Management allocated a total of 935 million yuan (US$134.20 million) of relief funding to Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, and other provinces that experienced flooding this year.

As of July 10, China Development Bank issued 1.02 billion yuan (US$146.39 million) of loans to Xuancheng, Tongling, Chizhou, Anqing, Huangshan and other cities in Anhui that had been severely affected by flooding during its first round of emergency credit extension in order to fund infrastructure maintenance work, efforts to help flood victims take refuge in safer areas, and the provision of relief supplies.

The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, Ministry of Emergency Management, and National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration arranged for eight shipments of relief supplies to provinces including Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei and Anhui in order to help facilitate people’s safety and well-being.

Ensuring that people do not fall into poverty as a result of disaster

“Yugan county engaged in a comprehensive campaign designed to help prevent  people from becoming impoverished as a result of disaster, including offering insurance to low-income residents of rural areas and individuals who were once poverty-stricken,” Luo noted. “Early warnings about the possibility of people falling into or returning to poverty as a result of disaster are being provided. The government of every village has been required to summarize the relief measures they took in their borders and report the information to their higher township authorities for examination. County-level poverty relief offices then verify the details, and relevant insurance agencies investigate claims and provide payouts.”

All localities affected by flooding made efforts to assist low-income and impoverished households with limited ability to overcome disaster and uncertainty. Monitoring and early warning systems made it possible to guarantee that no one was left behind and that aid was provided in a prompt manner.

The State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development implemented various measures to ensure that people who have escaped from poverty do not fall back into it while addressing the impact of natural disasters on poverty reduction endeavors, including observing individuals who are at risk and providing them with prompt assistance. These measures included:

New posts were created in or near impoverished migrant laborers’ hometowns in order to prevent sudden decreases in income due to disaster. Members of the group who returned to the areas that they are from as a result of flooding were monitored, aid was provided and the group’s employment situation were stabilized, and regression of poverty alleviation progress as a result of COVID-19 and flooding were prevented. They had also been encouraged to work elsewhere again if possible so they could continue to increase their incomes.

People having difficulty selling the products they produced were provided with prompt assistance. A consumption-oriented poverty relief campaign was launched nationwide in order to support impoverished citizens’ attempts to increase their incomes and escape from poverty by developing and engaging in various industries that are conducive to those goals.

The monitoring and assistance systems were fully utilized in order to ensure that people who have escaped from poverty do not fall back into it as a result of disease, disaster, disability or pandemics. Comprehensive protection policies for individuals who are sick, elderly, have disabilities, or suffer from other difficulties or vulnerabilities have been implemented.

Government departments took immediate action to help prevent low-income citizens and members of other marginal groups from returning to or otherwise falling into poverty as a result of flooding.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs required the governments of affected localities to distribute subsidies in a timely and thorough manner in order to guarantee that citizens who were experiencing difficulties could continue to maintain their livelihoods. All localities were required to take measures such as providing social assistance and utilizing relevant departments to address practical difficulties that members of marginal groups may suffer from.

The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, Ministry of Emergency Management, and National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration noted the importance of aiding the households suffering from severe disaster in poverty-stricken areas and other people in need in order to help ensure that they do not become impoverished again.

According to the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, many infrastructure projects related to housing, transportation, and drinking water safety were damaged by flooding in poverty-stricken locations. Most residents of the provinces that have been affected by flooding have not become impoverished or fallen back into poverty if they had previously gotten out of it, however, as a result of the prompt efforts that were made to help people resume their economic activities and maintain their livelihoods.

The person in charge at the Poverty Alleviation Office of the State Council emphasized the importance of thoroughly investigating hidden dangers related to repairing and reconstruction of damaged infrastructure projects and accelerating other poverty-reduction projects in order to guarantee that impoverished citizens have access to safe housing and drinking water and convenient transportation and observing and assisting every household that is at risk of becoming poverty-stricken or returning to poverty as a result of flooding so those outcomes do not occur.