Maintenance personnel make urgent repairs to a railway crossing over the Changyuan River in Qixian county, North China's Shanxi Province on Thursday. Shanxi was hit hard by heavy floods during the National Day holidays, and the abutments under the railway were destroyed. Photo: VCG

China on Monday announced an emergency allocation of 80 million yuan ($12.41 million) in advance to help with flood control and relief efforts in North China's Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, as the nation is getting into the full swing to minimize damage from unprecedented floods.

In a statement, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Emergency Management (MEM) said that the fund was intended to backstop the two provinces in their responses to extreme heavy rainfall-induced floods.

Adding to the government funding, at least 23 Chinese businesses, mostly internet heavyweights, had made donations, ranging from 10 million yuan to 50 million yuan, in cash or goods to Shanxi as of Monday, according to domestic media outlet 21jingji.com. 

Tencent, ByteDance, Baidu, Pinduoduo and Alibaba joined the donation push with a contribution of 50 million yuan apiece, per the report. 

The China National Commission for Disaster Reduction and the MEM have jointly launched a level-four emergency response to floods in the two provinces and a working team has been dispatched to the affected areas for on-site inspection of flood-damaged houses, building collapses, flooded villages and damage to crops, according to a statement on Monday. The team is also responsible for guiding and supervising the resettlement of affected residents.

China has a four-tier flood control emergency response mechanism, with level one representing the most severe situation.

The floods in the wake of continuous downpours have affected 1.76 million residents from 76 counties, cities and districts in Shanxi, and more than 120,000 people have been temporarily evacuated, according to the provincial department of emergency management, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Sunday.

The flooding resulted in damage to some 190,000 hectares of crops and the collapse of more than 17,000 houses, according to the department.

In addition, the coal-rich province suspended operations at 60 coal mines, 372 other mines and 14 hazardous chemical factories.

Global Times