BEIJING -- Heavy rain has killed 56 people, leaving a further 22 missing, in 11 Chinese provinces since June 29, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said Tuesday. A total of 27,000 houses collapsed and 37,000 were damaged due to floods, landslides and hailstorms in the provinces of Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the ministry said. Direct economic losses were estimated at 25.27 billion yuan (3.72 billion U.S. dollars). On Monday, the central government allocated 1.88 billion yuan to 20 provinces for disaster relief. The ministry and China National Commission for Disaster Reduction have sent teams and materials to assist disaster-hit areas in Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan and Guizhou. About 3,000 armed police have been sent to the flood-fighting front line in Hunan. Early reports said that the water level at the Changsha monitoring station in the Xiangjiang River, a major Yangtze tributary, reached a record high of 39.51 meters early Monday, higher than the previous record of 39.18 meters set by a massive flood in 1998. 24 hour wristbands.comhow to remove festival wristbandcustomize your own braceletcustom wrist sweatbandsbatman wristbandsilicone rubber bandsblack rubber braceletscustom fidget24 hour wristbands
Yang Shichai on board his garbage collection ship Canghai No 9 in the East China Sea. [Photo by Hua Zhibo/For China Daily] A businessman who once made a living from the ocean now spends his time and money on scooping trash from its waters. The garbage collection ship Canghai No 9 has just returned from its 438th mission and is moored in the port of the Shengsi Islands in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province. Measuring 16.5 meters long by 3.6 meters wide, the ship has a loading capacity of 21 metric tons. Its deck holds a big basket of trash, including plastic bags, bottles and disposable meal boxes. Its owner, Yang Shichai, is busy moving trash collected from the ocean off the ship. Its final destination is a garbage treatment plant on the island. Designed by Yang, the trash-collecting ship cost him about 530,000 yuan ($80,800) to build. Since it was put into use in May 2016, the ship has retrieved more than 2,000 cubic meters of garbage from the ocean. I've earned some money from the ocean. I just want to give back what I've gained, said Yang, who has tanned skin and scars on his hands from working long hours outdoors every day. Growing up on the shore, he started a refueling service for ships at sea at the age of 18. Later, he set up a company dedicated to recycling the oil residue. But his focus shifted from making a profit to cleaning up trash because of a video. A dead whale was found in the Pacific and its belly was full of trash, Yang said. The horrible scene from that video stuck in my mind.
