Rescue teams target winter homeless

As many as 36 people have already been rescued in Chaoyang district this winter, the area's refuge center said yesterday.

"And 10 homeless people have been rescued in Chaoyang district since the season's second snow fell on Monday," Wang Yangchang, a spokesman from the Chaoyang refuge center, told METRO. The second snowfall of the season is expected to end tomorrow and the temperature will not increase beyond 10 C, the weather bureau said on Monday. The refuge center said it is operating a 24-hour on-going search and rescue program between Monday and Friday in response.

All patrol cars are equipped with hot water, food, quilts and clothing, the center added. When homeless people are found, the rescue team offers to take them to a safe housing unit with a minimum temperature of 18 C. Chaoyang district is not the only district to help the homeless. Yang Dongzhen, director of the Xicheng refuge center, said: "We have allocated four cars to search for homeless people."