HONG
KONG - There is a Chinese saying that damages from
a natural disaster can be largely amplified by a
man-made calamity, the latter being more scary
than the former.
In the aftermath of the
worst snowstorms in 50 years that devastated vast
areas in east and south China for two weeks ahead
of the Chinese lunar new year holiday in early
February and killed at least 107 people and caused
billions of dollars in direct economic losses,
Chinese authorities have discovered that
substandard electricity poles used in some regions
broke apart in the storms, causing power
blackouts.
It turns out that the huge
damage caused by the snowstorms may be at least
partially blamed on some artificial factors.
As reported by the Chinese media, an
unspecified number of
concrete power poles in South
China's Guizhou province, which were jack-knifed
by the snowstorms to interrupt electricity supply,
have been found to have had no required
reinforcing steel bars inside. Instead, small iron
wires were used to replace the reinforcing steel
bars. Vast areas in mountainous Guizhou province
suffered the worst power blackouts amid the
snowstorms due to the collapse of pylons and poles
for overhead transmission. Critics said flaws
in the government system had led to incompetence
in combating corruption, which in turn made the
situation even worse.
A devastating
natural disaster like the snowstorms is certainly
beyond human control. However, analysts say, what
a government can and must do is to prevent
man-made factors from worsening the damage caused
by the natural disaster. In the case of Guizhou,
had qualified materials been used, power blackouts
might not have been so serious or lasted so long.
The Beijing News, an outspoken and
influential daily based in the Chinese capital,
reported that in Guizhou's Kaili prefecture, a
huge number of power poles turned out to be
produced with substandard materials, as no
reinforcing steel bars were found inside when they
broke and collapsed in snowstorms.
Embarrassed by the report, officials with
the state-owned China Southern Power Grid Co, the
monopoly power supplier for South China, said that
no hard evidence had been found yet, but stressed
that the producers and suppliers of substandard
products would definitely be forced out of the
power grid market.
But Beijing News was
not the first to expose the use of problematic
power poles. Beijing Youth Daily reported on
February 25 that two major types of concrete
electricity poles are currently used. One was
produced and erected in the 1950s and 1960s, the
other type is those produced and erected after
1999 when the reformation of the rural power grid
started. These two types of poles performed
differently in the snowstorms. The older ones
stood erect, while 90% of the newer types
jack-knifed.
According to reports, most of
the broken poles exposed small-diameter iron wire
instead of strong reinforcing steel bars as
required by production standards. In one estimate,
in Kaili prefecture alone, over 10,000 poles were
broken and still need to be replaced.
As
it is clear power shortages in many places were
caused by the poor quality of electricity poles
rather than by the snowstorms, the Chinese
government is obligated to launch a thorough
investigation. Producers and suppliers of the
substandard poles, and those who approved the
purchase and use of them, are in the firing line.
As is often the case, official corruption is
likely involved in such massive production and use
of substandard products.
In response,
China Southern Power Grid has dispatched six
quality supervision teams to Guizhou to supervise
the replacement of substandard poles. On February
23, the company summoned some 41 electrical
material suppliers to underscore the need to
guarantee the quality of all disaster-relief
supplies. The company also sent a warning that
substandard material suppliers will be barred from
the domestic market.
On websites, many
Chinese netizens have applauded the news media for
once again playing an important watchdog role.
Blogs and websites across the country are urging
the the government to make a thorough
investigation into the scandals - including the
possible involvement of official corruption - and
to punish those who used their power to protect
groups with vested interests.
Also,
Beijing is being called on to review and improve
its mechanisms aimed at curbing the corruption
that now runs rampant in almost every sector of
society.
Analysts point out that one root
cause of corruption is the difficult task of
reining in over-empowered local officials, and the
best way to fight corruption and reduce its
damages is to introduce a system of
checks-and-balances.
Even President Hu
Jintao, in his speech to the National Congress of
the Communist Party last October, called for
separation and mutual checks on decision-making,
supervisory and executive power. For the very
first time, he also put on the party's agenda the
need to "protect people's rights to know, to
participate, to express themselves and to
supervise". It is time for the party to put Hu's
ideas into practice.
Zhang Yi is a
contributor to the Chinese-language edition of
Asia times Online.
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Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
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