China sacks 3 officials after typhoon kills at least 83

By Mahmut Atanur

BEIJING

Three Chinese officials have been sacked over “inadequate responses” to a tropical storm that left at least 83 people dead in eastern Fujian Province, where 19 others remain missing.

State news agency Xinhua reported Monday that those suspended had held posts in the provincial capital Fuzhou’s hardest-hit county, Minqing, where 73 of the fatalities and 17 of those missing were reported since Nepartak made landfall July 9.

Among them are the county’s deputy Party chief and acting government head, Huang Shiyang; the Party chief of its Bandong town, Lin Yuanhui; and Bandong’s deputy Party chief, Zhan Qiaoying.

Tropical storm Nepartak had swept through eastern China after being downgraded from a typhoon and leaving two people dead and more than 300 others injured in Taiwan.

In Fuzhou, it affected more than 200,000 people in five counties and districts, toppling almost 10,000 houses and resulting in direct economic losses of over 7.1 billion yuan ($1.1 billion).

In Minqing, 11 towns and townships experienced power and telecommunication outages, with the storm affecting a third of its population, according to Xinhua.

The government of Fujian has set aside 170 million yuan (around $25.5 million) for relief efforts.