36 die in spring snow in Yunnan
By Di Fang (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-03-18 05:59

A total of 36 people have been killed by snow and unusually cold weather in Southwest China's Yunnan Province.

And a total of 8.6 million people have been affected by the cold snap, the China News Service quoted sources with the Yunnan provincial government as saying.

Children play snow in a park in Kunming, Southwest China's Yunnan Province in this picture taken on March 4, 2005. [newsphoto]

More than 190,000 people were stranded by the heavy snow, the report said.

Temperatures in 15 regions of Yunnan plummeted by 12 to 22 C in the first two weeks of this month.

It is reported that economic losses throughout the province have reached 2.5 billion yuan (US$310 million).

In the Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, 40 per cent of household animals died due to the heavy snow.

Working groups, set up by governments at various levels, have rushed to disaster-hit areas to conduct disaster relief.

Currently, social order has been maintained despite the weather, according to the China News Service report.

Kong Chuizhu, vice-governor of the Yunnan Province, was quoted as saying that the situation was still serious in the 15 affected regions.

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