Studies On The Relief Of Anhui's Drought In 1934

In 1934 Anhui Province suffered a severe drought which not likely to happen in a century. 49 counties, more than 8.7 million people were hit by the drought, resulting in a huge economy loss. The emergence of the drought was caused not only by high temperature, little rain, successive years of natural calamities, but also by political corruption and the collapse of water and forestry administration.After the drought took place, the central and local governments reacted to it quickly. Firstly, the governments made extensive mobilization in the society. Secondly, the all levels of organizations on drought relief were set up. Finally, various relief activities were put in practice. At the same time, actions were taken by different social institutions, including the charity organizations, the fellow-townsman socities and individuals and so on. They collected money, goods and materials, implementing the relief in Anhui actively. The news media also reported the situation of the drought and relief of government and social organizations toward the public in time, checked and criticized the illegal actions during the relief process. As for Anhui drought, although everyone worked hard on relief, the relief work was regarded as mending the fold after a sheep was lost because the government did not pay much attention to drought prevention. Furthermore, the drought-stricken population was too large, the drought area was wide and the relief aids were not sufficient, so that the drought-reliefing effects were limited. For all that, this relief still had two outstanding features: the relief actions were taken in time and well-organized for drought relief, the government and social organizations united in their work.To alleviate the harm of drought thoroughly, It is necessary to take the following actions at least: strengthening the construction of drought prevention mechanism, drawing up preliminary projects on relief, establishing strict supervision mechanism, perfecting water conservancy infrastructure and protecting ecosystem environment.