Before this, we coped by selling goods in the market, but now we have nothing at all - Lu Shengyuan, survivor.
Floods, landslides and mudflows caused by tropical storm 'Bilis' claimed 978 lives across six provinces of southern China in July this year. The storm wreaked havoc in Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong and Guangxi provinces, destroying 593,000 homes and damaging infrastructure.
Weeks later, Hunan, Fujian and Jiangxi were hit again by typhoon Kaemi.
In total, 146 million people were affected by the storms and 5.91 million people have abandoned their homes.
Thousands of hectares of farmland have been completely ruined.
Infrastructure has also been affected with reservoirs, dikes, dams, power stations, irrigational facilities and pumping wells sustaining high levels of damage.
Years to recover
Hunan province was one of the worst areas hit as it bore the brunt of the typhoon storms with over 7 million people affected and 377 reported dead.
Many survivors in Hunan, like Lu Shengyuan, 34, lost all their possessions in the storms.
Lu Shengyuan and his family receive a rice package from IRW
"Before this, we coped by selling goods in the market, but now we have
nothing at all. We are poor again, it will take years to recover." said
Lu Shengyuan.
To add to his problems, his daughter and mother were seriously injured
as they got caught in the flood waters. His mother was stranded for
seven hours in the water until she was rescued. She is still in
hospital.
Food aid
IRW aid workers gave Lu Shengyan and 1,040 other families in Hunan province 25 kg of rice each.
The distribution was carried out through Islamic Relief’s partner
organisation China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA).
So far 26 tons of rice have been distributed benefiting over 5,000 people.
The distributions took place in three areas of Chenzhou city in Hunan province which bore the brunt of the disaster.
Islamic Relief has allocated an initial $10,000 to provide emergency relief for the affected population.