The PLA at Home and Abroad - Strategic Studies Institute - U.S. Army

ary 2008. The areas south of the Yangzi River were especially
hard-hit. Heavy snow, ice, freezing rain, and
unusually cold temperatures affected 19 provinces
in all. The severe weather and accumulations of ice
on power lines cut off electricity. In China south of
the Yangzi, where passenger and freight trains were
pulled by electric locomotives, the electricity outage
paralyzed transportation and stopped the shipment
of coal to power plants. The effects of the storms and
cold weather on the transportation system were magnified
by the fact that the crisis coincided with the
Lunar New Year festival, one of the peak periods for
domestic road, rail, and air travel. Snow and ice accumulations
also caused roads and bridges to be shut
down and buildings to collapse. Millions of seasonal
or migrant workers who were taking their annual
trips to their family reunions in the countryside were
all stuck in the major hubs of transportation in those
provinces, creating a mass human disaster situation
everywhere.
Government response to the snow, ice, and cold
weather emergency was slower than desired and hampered
by lack of equipment. The problems began with
a failure to forecast the unusual winter storms. Part of
the government response to the severe winter weather
disaster was to mobilize regular PLA troops, PAP
troops, reserve troops, and militia forces. As of early
February 2008, 306,000 soldiers had been deployed,
along with 1.07 million militia and army reservists. 19
The PLA roles in this disaster relief operation included
air transport of food, medicine, quilts, and clothing
to affected areas, crowd control in places like railway
stations, and supplying skilled and unskilled labor to
repair power grids, open roads, and restore railway
traffic. 20
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