The Portrait of a Helpless "Olympic Host" in Darkness -- Guizhou
Residents: 'We are Living in Darkness with No Help'

The Epoch Times

Guizhou Residents: 'We are Living in Darkness with No Help'

By Feng Changle and Li Ling
Epoch Times Staff

Feb 05, 2008

http://en.epochtimes.com/news_images/2008-2-5-79487284.jpg
The worst prolonged snow, rain and cold weather period in a decade has
hit about 19 provincial level regions in China, responsible for the
deaths of at least 60 people and paralyzing air, rail and highway
traffic and stranding tens of thousands of passengers. (China
Photos/Getty Images)

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Icy rain the likes of which has not been seen in a century has brought
tremendous hardship and great loss for residents in Guizhou Province.
One resident said, "It is so terrible. We are living in a world of
darkness, silence, helplessness and hopelessness. Every minute seems
like a thousand."

"Vegetables and piglets frozen "

A villager from the Zunyi area told the reporter that it was the first
time in her life that she had seen such a big snowstorm with icy rain.
Actually she had never even heard of sleet like this before.

It has been raining for more than half a month and has not shown signs
of stopping. The weather has been misty, hazy, rainy and chilly, and
over 10 inches of ice and snow has accumulated on her roof.

She said the piglets were frozen to death and the vegetables were
covered with a thick layer of ice. Life for her family was extremely
difficult since they had lost water and power for more than two weeks.

To get water, her family had to fetch ice from the outside and let it
melt. They hadn't done any laundry or taken a shower since the day they
lost water.

Their world is covered with snow and ice, they stay inside for almost
the entire time, and they can't get any vegetables from the outside
except for the frozen vegetable leaves grown in their own field.

They still had some supplies of coal for cooking and heating, but she
was very worried that they would run out of them before the storm stops.
The only thing that pacified her was that her telephone was still
working though her cell phone was not.

When asked if the authorities had shown any concern for their suffering
or provided any solutions to relieve their situation, she answered, "The
government officials are all involved in official corruption. Who would
care about us the common folks? I have not seen any officials at all.
We, the villagers, just have to count on ourselves."

Hot peppers at almost every meal

Another Guizhou resident said that, the entire province was undergoing a
most serious blackout. Even with the traffic lights off, he could see
that the ice on the road was more than a foot thick, and no vehicle or
pedestrian could be seen.

He also said that the entire province had been pitch black at night as
if it was the end of the world. At home, only some candles, coal and a
hot water bag could bring his family some light and heat.

Many workplaces, factories and schools had to close due to the loss of
power and water. Some residents living in the upper stories of high
buildings were trapped inside for days because the elevators had stopped
working, he said. All the stores and restaurants on the streets were closed.

As for food, they only had a limited amount of rice stocked at home. The
vegetables were running out, while the prices soaring. Therefore his
family had hot peppers to go with a given amount of rice in a bowl at
almost every meal.

The cost of coal rose from 400 yuan (US$55.66) to 1800 yuan ($250.47)
per ton. He didn't believe it would come back even by Chinese New Year
Day, which is February 7.

It is said that a regular room in a four-star hotel normally priced
about 300 yuan ($41.75) a night, but now it has gone up to more than 700
yuan ($97.41) and people are still waiting in line to get in.

Several people frozen to death on the freeway

An Internet user told the reporters that, due to icy road conditions,
the buses from some southern areas werestranded on the freeway and
several passengers were frozen to death. Knowing the roads were closed
in Guizhou, the authorities in the south were irresponsible in letting
the buses keep coming to the place buried in ice and snow: This caused
the suffering and death of the passengers from the south.

According to the surfer, the ice and snowstorm disaster has turned China
back into a primitive society, where walking has become the major means
of transportation.

"Leaving millions of people in cold and dark reveals the fragility of
'socialism with Chinese characteristics,' yet exposes the sham of it.
Guizhou is now covered with ice and snow, beneath the white surface lie
the "administrative achievement" projects―developed power plants that
are dead due to the fragile power network, luxurious office buildings
and large guest houses that look like ice sculptures, and isolated
counties that are forgotten," said the user.

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