By Zhang Yi Asian Times March 6, 2008
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.
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Zhang Yi is a contributor to the Chinese-language edition of Asia times Online.
Copyright 2008 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved.
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