99 people now reported dead in Henan flood

Henan flood continously attracted the attention of the world, but when foreign journalists in Beijing rushed to cover the local disaster, many of them were harassed and besieged by unidentified “patriotic people” in the streets of Zhengzhou.Others have launched human flesh searches on the Internet for the Chinese assistants of foreign journalists, denouncing them as “spies” and “traitors” and spreading their personal data.Some have even received threats of violence or death.

Due to the seriousness of the situation, the Foreign Correspondents’ Association of China (FCCC) issued a statement on Tuesday expressing its “grave concern” over the harassment of foreign journalists covering the Henan flood, and calling on the Chinese government to honor its commitment to allow foreign journalists unrestricted access to China and take responsibility for their safety.

“The Foreign Correspondents’ Association of China is disappointed and alarmed by the increasing hostility foreign journalists face in China, often encouraged by nationalistic tendencies directly encouraged by Chinese officials and official agencies,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, in the first seven days of the zhengzhou flood, zhengzhou residents continued to voluntarily go to the shakou Road subway line 5 station where the tragedy occurred to lay flowers, but the authorities blocked the place with yellow barriers to prevent public complaints, which sparked strong dissatisfaction among local residents.Internet users were critical of the authorities’ actions, and zhengzhou residents stepped forward to dismantle the yellow fences.

The authorities may have had to remove some of the barriers because of popular resentment, but the incident shows that the government’s goal of suppressing and preventing popular resentment is clearly higher than the need to clean up after the disaster and get life back to normal.

So far, the Party’s top officials have not visited the disaster area.Prior to this, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao and other central leaders have appeared on the front line of flood relief on many occasions.As torrential rains and floods ravage the central Plains, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC), is on a tour of the Tibetan plateau.
The heavy rainfall that ravaged Zhengzhou moved north after leaving the city, causing severe flooding in xinxiang, Anyang, Hebi and Jiaozuo.In Xinxiang city, in particular, 29 of 30 reservoirs overflowed, flooding surrounding areas.Farmers in some villages outside Xinxiang reportedly lost more than half of their pigs and poultry, as well as all their crops.Some farmers not only doubt that they can not get compensation and relief from the government, but even have the idea of giving up farming and breeding.