China facing credibility crisis in wake of flooding
WHILE Chinese athletes have started raking in gold medals from shooting to swimming in the London Olympics, officials at home continue to face a credibility crisis in the wake of the heavy flooding experienced in Beijing recently.
The 20-hour deluge on July 20 and 21 dumped as much as 470mm of rain near the capital. The latest available statistics put the death toll at 77, while Beijing sustained more than $1.6bn in damage in the worst flooding since the city began to keep records in 1951.
My compound was badly flooded and many design errors and infrastructure shortcomings became evident in the area. Draining water and clearing the debris took hundreds of workers several days.
For a region known more for its drought and air pollution, it may surprise some to note that Beijing has had a long history of dealing with floods. Given the vast difference in precipitation between its long dry period and the flood season (typically July and August), Beijing continuously monitors and invests in flood control infrastructure. It was touted to have had the best administrative arrangement for flood prevention in the world in 1999.
Among many achievements in developing and upgrading flood control mechanisms, the government built the Guanting and Miyun reservoirs to store floodwater, renovated old sewers into rainwater drainage systems, and invested in a flood control centre with modern equipment for scientific management.
What, then, went wrong? Chinese experts started piecing together various contributing factors — about half of Beijing’s drainage system is filled with sediment as thick as 10%50% of the pipes’ diameter, preventing rainwater from freely flowing through; more than 80% of roads and pavements are now covered by impermeable materials that prohibit rainwater from seeping into the ground; and the rapid rate of construction slowed down the rate of ground absorption. The list goes on, but many say Beijing has simply fallen behind in planning, maintaining and developing the supporting infrastructure. For some, this is the price of growing too quickly for too long.
Everyone agrees that the rapid pace of urbanisation is to blame, with roads, buildings and other infrastructure hampering the city’s ability to cope with the downpour. And this is a problem found not only in Beijing but in other Chinese metropolises that have been battered by storms over the summer — Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chongqing and Shenzhen. In contrast, Hong Kong, often pummelled by typhoons, is rigorous about renovating its drainage system before every rainy season — water cannons blast away sediment to ensure pipes are clear of obstructions, closed-circuit television cameras are even installed in hardto-reach places to warn maintenance crews about potential problem areas.
It is clear that the misfortune that struck the capital has now forced government officials to review the urban plans of China’s major cities in order to see how they can better plan for and respond to disaster scenarios such as floods. But many other priorities need to be rebalanced. Although the Twelfth Five-Year Plan made mention of a further increase in the urbanisation rate to 51.5% it also emphasises the need for a more sustainable — albeit more moderate — growth and development trajectory. This objective can be further dissected and rationalised to the level of developing more sustainable urban plans that would be able to support the immediate requirements of the population, as well as the more long-term objectives of economic restructuring and the development of the country. In essence, recent events have highlighted the need to more urgently rebalance the priorities.
As I write this, Beijing has had nonstop rains for a further two days now, while nearby Tianjin is already struggling with a situation familiar to Beijingers. The Beijing Meteorological Centre has issued a blue alert for rainstorms while the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport has already asked residents to be on guard.
Typhoon Vicente, which was responsible for that fateful weekend deluge, has now long dissipated over Myanmar, but Typhoon Saola threatens from the south and tropical storm Damrey looms in the east.
These problems underscore the need for aggressive urban redevelopment and planning that would strengthen China’s cities’ foundations and not simply focus on superficial displays of “development”. As China struggles to close this critical gap in its infrastructure, it strikes me that we have something in common; as China and Africa develop and transform themselves and the world, getting the basics right remains very important.
Van der Wath is group MD of The Beijing Axis. He can be reached at kobus@thebeijingaxis.com.