Try new methods to reduce impact of floods

SHI YU/CHINA DAILY

Editor's note: Floods have caused havoc in South and Central China, especially Hunan province. In Hunan's Ningxiang county alone, 44 people have been declared dead or missing since heavy rains began pummeling the county on June 22. Three experts share their views on the floods with China Daily's Zhang Zhouxiang. Excerpts follow:

Reducing the human and material impact

Cheng Xiaotao, a senior expert with the National Committee for Disaster Reduction

To prevent flooding, local governments tend to raise the heights of dikes, and mobilize large numbers of people during the rainy season to reinforce the weak points of the dikes so as to prevent them from collapsing.

However, economic growth-induced urbanization has exposed the weak point of this practice: After a majority of the able-bodied villagers migrated to cities in search of better-paying work, it became increasingly difficult to mobilize enough people to "defend" the dikes.

Besides, just one breach in a dike can allow large volumes of water to gush out and inundate nearby places in a very short time, causing huge destructions. As Ningxiang continues its fight against floods, there have been reports of several dike breaches causing deaths and destruction.

It's time we changed our approach to fighting floods. For example, East China's Anhui province has found a novel way to reduce the human impact and financial loss of floods. Local officials in the province have deliberately kept a section of some dikes lower than the rest so that after reaching a certain level excess water can flow out through the lower section of the dikes.

Indeed, the onrushing water will cause damage, but not as much as when a dike collapses. And since the dike will still be intact, officials will have ample time to evacuate residents and minimize casualties.

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