Francis Markus
Typhoon Wipha destroyed hundreds of homes and disrupted power and water supplies to thousands of residents in Eastern China on Wednesday, forcing the evacuation of two million people from their homes, before being downgraded to a tropical storm.
Despite earlier fears that the typhoon would directly hit Shanghai, it made landfall south of the country's financial centre, in Cangnan County, in the eastern province of Zhejiang, registering winds of 45 meters per second.
This is the second consecutive year that the county has been struck by a severe typhoon, following last year's devastation by Typhoon Saomai. Rainfall in some areas of Zhejiang was recorded at levels of 162mm and rivers and reservoirs are already at their warning levels.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs said 669 homes had been destroyed in Zhejiang and there were reports of widespread disruption to power and water supplies.
The neighbouring inland provinces of Jiangxi and Anhui were also put on alert for heavy rains and possible related flooding.
"Anhui province is still reeling from the floods in July, with thousands of families still living temporarily with neighbours and relatives, so this is a fresh blow to an already vulnerable population," said Carl Naucler, the Federation's head of representation for East Asia.
On July 30, the International Federation launched an emergency appeal to help survivors of the floods earlier in the month, calling for 9.46 million Swiss francs (US$ 7.69 million or € 5.7 million) for relief supplies, reconstruction and disaster prevention work.
Faced with typhoon Wipha, the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) has taken preparatory measures, with local branches collecting reports from the affected areas, liaising closely with government bodies.
Despite the fact that Zhejiang province, the area hit directly by the typhoon, is one of China's more developed regions, the RCSC's Disaster Relief Department in Beijing plans to dispatch some 200,000 RMB (CHF 31,433) worth of relief items to the affected areas, through the Zhejiang Red Cross branch, to help the most vulnerable communities.
