Livestock die in blizzards

Press, 16 January 1986, Page 23

Livestock die in blizzards

NZPA-AFP Peking One million head of live-, stock have perished in record blizzards in north-west China’s Qinghai Province and officials expect millions more may die before the (northern) spring, the New China News Agency (N.C.N.A.) reported. In spite of air drops of 3150 tonnes of fodder and a relief fund of 100,000 yuan ($62,000) to help millions of starving animals, officials were not optimistic about the chances of survival for many of them. A vast arid plateau north of Tibet, Qinghai is one of the poorest areas in China and its sparce population of nomads rely almost exclusively on their herds — horses, cattle and goats — for survival. N.C.N.A. said that up to three million head of livestock had been affected by the blizzards. Only two people had died. The provincial government had sent 11 teams

consisting of 106 doctors to attend sick herdsmen, and the central Government had delivered relief materials worth 17 million yuan ($10.6 million), the report said. The 30,000 Tibetan herdsmen stranded in the snow were safe from the cold and starvation and sick people had been taken to hospitals, it said.