A Study Of Anhui Flood Relief In 1931

In late June 1931,prolonged premonitory rains occurred in both the Yangtze River valley and the Huaihe River basin,which led to the development of torrential rains and the formation of catastrophic floods in a short time.During the same period,the Pearl River basin in the south and the Liaohe and Songhua River basins in the northern part of the country also experienced heavy rain for nearly three months.With all these floods,they caused the national floods which have rarely happened for hundreds of years in China.Sixteen provinces were involved in the floods and the dams were breached as well as the farmland was submerged.Few people and their families survived during the floods.The survivors were also displaced by the floods,which rarely happened in the history.The outbreak of these extremely large floods was not only directly caused by prolonged periods of heavy rain,but also related to topography and terrain.However,the destructive power and long-lasting impact of the floods in 1931 has profound and complicated social reasons which is worth learning for us.First of all,the erosion of water and soil caused by excessive reclamation from people has already laid seeds for the outbreak of floods.Second,wars have continued as well as warlords between new and old have fought each other since the Republic of China,which has not only caused social unrest,but also undermined social productivity,even impeded the accumulation of state capital.With country's poverty,the limited financial resources were mainly devoted to the military.Neither water,roads,nor agriculture of people's livelihood has been effectively supported and developed for a short time.Coupled with a large number of bandits,people lived in extreme hardships.With these problems,it was impossible for the country to effectively prepare for natural disasters including floods.Ultimately it can only lead to the collapse of embankments,slow relief,and horrors of hunger and desperation.Third,the corruption of the Nanjing National Government and Chiang Kai-shek's Centralization of power made the country's forces more inclined to the military.Although it established many institutions of people's livelihood,it was a tool to deceive people and public opinion.From Chiang Kai-shek to local officials,the diverting of embankment funds and corrupting of water administration created water-like embankments which were vulnerable.Fourth,the corruption behavior of local governments in Anhui Province was ready for the happening of the floods disaster.Finally,the sudden occurrence of the “September 18 th Incident” not only seriously damaged Chinese national sovereignty.Three fertile provinces in the north-east of China occupied by Japan directly affected the relief of the floods in 1931.On the other hand,the national sentiments in the country rose.The focus of the government and people also shifted to the Japanese issue.Japanese “fire robbery” action played an inestimable negative role in the floods in 1931.In short,the above reasons,ultimately,was due to a series of evil consequences arose from the fact that the country was not independent and controlled by imperialism.After the floods broke out,disaster relief became one of the most important things of the country.After being aware of the seriousness of the floods,the central government rapidly organized the relief activities including the mobilization of disaster relief from all sectors of society,the seeking assistance from the international community,and the establishment of the “National Disaster Relief Commission” which was as the flood control agency in 1931.the relief measures mainly included four aspects: “emergency”,“workers”,“farms”,and “health and epidemic prevention”.If the central government's disaster relief plan was to coordinate the overall situation,then the local government would carry out disaster relief work in a detailed and concrete manner.There were disaster relief measures of Anhui Provincial Government,mainly including the relief of disaster victims,the construction of water conservancy facilities,the supervision of disaster relief processes,the maintenance of social order and the prevention of epidemics.The floods were concerned by all sectors of the society,including the media,charities and so on.And theses institutions actively participated in the disaster relief,which worked at that time and relieved victims to a certain extent.However,there were still a lot of problems in the entire disaster relief process,which made the disaster relief work not reach the expected goal of relief.