Claims emerge that another Liaoning county may have concealed flood deaths

A city government in Northeast China’s Liaoning Province announced Tuesday that it has begun to investigate claims that the death toll of a 2012 flood was underreported.

The Liaoyang city authorities said that they have set up a team to look into residents’ claims that deaths were never acknowledged, adding that any person found to have covered up deaths will be punished.

Zhao Lianhua, a villager in the city’s Liaoyang county, told China National Radio ( CNR) Tuesday that her husband died in 2012’ s “August 4 Flood.”

Zhao said her husband’s body was found 20 kilometers away from her house about two months after the flood, and a local hospital confirmed he had drowned, said CNR.

Other villagers also said that some of their relatives were found dead after the flood or are still missing, CNR reported, adding that altogether seven were found dead and three are still missing.

The city government of Liaoyang said on its website in August 2012 that there were no casualties from the flood. Moreover, the government called their rescue effort a “great victory” in their 2013 annual government work report.

According to another villager Gao Bing, who says his grandfather died in the flood, the county government gave him 30,000 yuan ($ 4,360) in compensation.

However, Zhao received neither compensation nor any response from the government about her husband’s death, and nobody in her village received compensation for economic losses.

In December 2016, the Anshan city government set up an investigation team to examine if the death toll of the “August 4 Flood” in Xiuyan county was underreported, which neighbors Liaoyang county.