398 Dead In Henan Flood: Beijing Fires And Sentences Dozens Of Party Leaders, Officials To Managers

Flood impact in Zhenzhou, Henan, China. (Wikimedia Commons/Wzl19371)

JAKARTA - The Chinese government has punished and fired nearly 100 party officials, company officials, and managers for dereliction of duty in the wake of the flood disaster that hit Henan Province and killed hundreds, the Xinhua news agency said on Friday.

Among those removed from office was Xu Liyi, secretary of the Communist Party Committee in the Henan provincial capital, Zhengzhou. For three dollars, Zhengzhou Deputy Mayor Wu Fumin was also dismissed.

They were among 89 local officials convicted by the central government for what Beijing called poor handling of the flood emergency response, Xinhua said, citing the conclusions of a central government-led investigation in Beijing.

The government has called the Henan floods the worst since China started making meteorological records. In the span of July 17-23 2021, 398 people died or went missing in Henan province, according to the Xinhua report, which was published on the central government's website on Friday.

"There are issues of reporting delays and withholding in the reporting of disaster information and omissions from lower-level party committees, government, and relevant departments," the report said, citing Reuters January 21.

A wreath in memory of the victims of the Henan floods at Shakoulu Station. (Wikimedia Commons/Windmemories)

The company manager responsible for the construction of Zhengzhou's infrastructure, including the subway line in which 14 people drowned, an episode widely discussed on Chinese social media, was among 11 people arrested or detained as a result of a central government investigation.

Henan, a province twice the size of Austria whose capital Zhengzhou is a city of 12 million people, also suffered a direct economic loss of 120.6 billion yuan (19 billion US dollars), Xinhua reported.

In China, local and municipal officials are often demoted by the central government in response to its poor handling of natural and man-made disasters.

To note, officials in Wuhan City and Hubei Province were recently similarly punished for the initial outbreak of COVID-19 that killed 4.512 in the provinces, according to official government statistics.