China imposes censorship on rainfall

Some rain torrential Beijing stopped dead first reviews after and doubts about the foundations of the capital of the second world economy . Until now is the censorship:  the most critical comments on the Internet are being erased and official media have been ordered to stick to the usual moving stories of miraculous rescues and selfless help from neighbors. Saturday's rains were the worst fall on Beijing in 60 years. The rain went on for 20 hours, reached 170 mm on average per cubic meter in the center and 460 mm in the mountainous district of Fangshan , in the southwest. In the district of Sanlitun , which accounts for leisure, people stayed locked up overnight in the premises as he watched cars as puppets pulled by currents of one meter on the main avenues. The day ended with 52 deaths (37 in the capital and 15 in Hebei, the province that embraces).In Beijing, 25 were drowned, six by the collapse of their houses, five and electrocuted by lightning.Rescuers are still searching for 19 people and 66,000 have been evacuated. The bill amounted to 10,000 million yuan (nearly 1,300 million euros), according to Beijing Daily .

CITY UNPREPARED

News of deadly floods are common in southern China, but not in the capital. It is relatively understandable that Beijing, with a dry climate, was not prepared to manage these rains. "In a day has fallen the same water that normally falls in six months. There is no system of drainage that can support it, "said Zhang Junfeng, an engineer of the Ministry of Transport. But the failure of alcantarillad or was so colossal that the awkward questions have arisen. Beijing has risen in recent decades glittering skyscrapers and infrastructure that would envy any Western city: the second major airport in the world, a network of wide avenues and as modern as one meter long. Yet much of the sewage goes back to the imperial times. Many caps flew by the force of flowing water in the basement and there are many of the victims drowned. The failure was made ​​by the official media the next day. "In terms of drainage technology, China is decades behind the developed world," explained an editorial Global Times.

DISCOMFORT IN THE NETWORK

The Internet these days share photos of the disaster and criticism of their management. Beijing is blamed for not having warned the force of water and advised people to stay at home. It is evident that failed emergency protocols. "Much of the information came from weibo , the Chinese version ofTwitter - rather than official sources. The Government should promote education on disasters, "he told AP Dong Liming, a professor of Urban and Environmental Sciences of Peking University. The heat has reached levels that annoy Beijing, which has decreed censorship.