Snow storm in China

[Trilby]

I (blush) listen to NPR every now and again and the big news is that China is experiencing the worst snow storm since they began keeping records (admittedly, only since 1950) but it is the time of the New Year and people are trying to get home, are stranded without food,etc. theBBC is making it sound like a Katrina with snow. I haven't heard a word about it except for NPR--not even my local paper. Anyone with any more info? Some feel the situation could get really out of control.

It makes me wonder how Billy is doing.

[Ibby]

It's definitely like the cold Katrina - if not worse. It's hard to freeze to death in a hurricane. And this is affecting a LOT more people. Trains are shut down. Thousands, hundreds of thousands, of people are stranded outside train stations in the freezing cold, without food, without water, without any option but to bundle up, hunker down, and huddle for warmth. It's even been raining for a week all the way out here.
It's pretty rough. There's gonna be a lotta dead people from this.

[TheMercenary]

I listen to NPR twice a day.

Anyway here is the story:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3ccaf42e-c...077b07658.html

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...res/index.html

[TheMercenary]

Update:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/wo...1china.html?hp

[busterb]

Hum. Coal shortages. I was under the impression that the three gorge dam would solve all their engery problems?

[ZenGum]

Coal shortages now, and if the damage to food crops gets much worse, food shortages later this year.

Olympic athletes, please bring a plate.

[Spexxvet]

"It's all Bush's fault"
-tw

[busterb]

Originally Posted by Spexxvet

"It's all Bush's fault"
-tw

Don't forget the @#$%$%! MBAs !!!!

[lookout123]

well, as previously posted 85% oof aal prblems are directly traceable to the top. this is brought on by unamerican big dic thinking that is lkadjgf;lkah GAAAAAK! *POP**FIZZLE**SNAP*


don't eat the yellow snow.

[Ibby]

Originally Posted by busterb

Hum. Coal shortages. I was under the impression that the three gorge dam would solve all their engery problems?

The coal isn't for power. It doesnt go to big plants, burning it for electricity.
The people who burn it dont HAVE electricity. Almost every home in rural China has a coal-burning stove for warmth. THAT's why china's emissions are so high, too - one reason, at least. A coal shortage doesn't mean power's gonna be a little low. A coal shortage means people are already freezing to death in their homes.

[busterb]

From NYT link above. But electricity shortages were expected to continue after supplies were disrupted to 17 provinces, or about half the country, in recent weeks.
China mined about 2.5 billion tons of coal last year, according to government statistics, and burning that fuel supplies more than 80 percent of the country’s electricity

[ZenGum]

From CNN:

Local reports said hundreds of thousands of people were massed like a herd of humanity into a huge, makeshift corral larger than a football field.

State-run news agency Xinhua said 400,000 people were stranded at Guangzhou Railway Station on Friday, down about half from the height of the crisis.

800,000 people, waiting for trains that probably won't come, for their one chance this year to visit their family, waiting mostly outdoors, during a snowstorm ...

Next time we have a bad day, just think about that for a minute.

[classicman]

I saw the same thing on the news last night - thats terrible.

[TheMercenary]

I hear that 10,000 people have been stranded at Tokyo AP due to freak snowstorm.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=aSnFUCeuOfp8

[busterb]

If China calls their US debt in, to bail them out of this snow storm.
We'll be in a great shit storm.