According to the investigation report on the “7.20” heavy rain disaster in Zhengzhou released the day before yesterday on the website of the Ministry of Emergency Management, as of September 30 last year, 380 people died or missing in Zhengzhou due to the disaster, of which 139 were concealed at different stages. This is the first official disclosure that the local government concealed the situation of the disaster in this major natural disaster.
The investigation report on the “7.20” heavy rain disaster in Zhengzhou, Henan, China revealed that the local government concealed 139 deaths and missing persons after the disaster; Zhengzhou officials set off a strong accountability storm, Xu Liyi, the former secretary of the Zhengzhou Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, was dismissed, and 89 public officials including Zhengzhou’s deputy mayor personnel are held accountable.
The interviewed scholars analyzed that large-scale fraud in Zhengzhou after the disaster seriously endangered the credibility of the government, and strict accountability was directly related to the local government’s concealment.
According to the investigation report on the “7.20” heavy rain disaster in Zhengzhou released the day before yesterday on the website of the Ministry of Emergency Management, as of September 30 last year, 380 people died or missing in Zhengzhou due to the disaster, of which 139 were concealed at different stages. This is the first official disclosure that the local government concealed the situation of the disaster in this major natural disaster.
From July 17th to 23rd last year, Henan Province suffered a rare heavy rain, causing large-scale floods. Zhengzhou, the provincial capital, was the worst hit. After the heavy rain, the shocking subway flooding and Jingguang Road tunnel flooding accidents exposed serious problems in local emergency management, and also caused public opinion to focus on the “man-made disasters” behind the natural disasters.
According to the investigation report, from July 25 to 28, Zhengzhou City did not report the number of deaths and missing persons due to the disaster for four consecutive days. As of July 29, only 97 people were reported.
The report also pointed out that Zhengzhou City had a negative attitude towards reporting the number of dead and missing persons, and used various excuses to hinder the information reporting work; it concealed and did not report the information it already had. The city of Zhengzhou still does not accurately report the number of new deaths due to the disaster.
According to public information, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visited Henan on those two days to inspect the disaster.
The report also slammed the Zhengzhou Municipal Party Committee, the Municipal Government and other units for their lack of risk awareness, and for this catastrophic disaster, “inadequate understanding and preparation, ineffective prevention organization, improper emergency response, and dereliction of duty”; “Especially when there have been casualties such as subways, tunnels, etc. that should not have occurred.
The report also criticized some leading cadres in Zhengzhou, especially the main responsible persons, for lack of risk awareness and bottom-line thinking; there are deviations in the development concept, and urban construction “emphasizes face and compliments.”
Xu Liyi was held accountable and removed An Wei to take over as secretary of the Zhengzhou Municipal Party Committee
After the report was released, Zhengzhou officials set off a storm of accountability, Xu Liyi was removed from the post of secretary of the CPC Zhengzhou Municipal Committee, and An Wei took over.
An Wei, born in 1966, is a local cadre in Henan. He was previously the secretary of the Zhoukou Municipal Party Committee. In October last year, An Wei was promoted to the Standing Committee of the Henan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China and was one of the six newly promoted members of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Committee; Xu Liyi no longer served as the Standing Committee of the Provincial Committee after the change, but continued to serve as the Secretary of the Zhengzhou Municipal Committee. until this dismissal.
The Henan Provincial Disciplinary Inspection and Supervision Authority also held 89 public officials accountable. Among them, the deputy secretary of the Zhengzhou Municipal Party Committee and mayor Hou Hong was given serious warnings within the party and demotion of government affairs; vice mayor Wu Fumin was revoked from party positions and government affairs; deputy mayors Li Xian and Chen Hongwei were punished for major demerits in government affairs.
In addition, the Henan provincial police also arrested eight corporate personnel suspected of violating the law, including some relevant persons in charge of the Zhengzhou subway project.
In an interview with Lianhe Zaobao, Ren Jianming, a professor at the School of Public Administration of Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, analyzed that Zhengzhou’s party and government officials were severely held accountable this time, which was directly related to the concealment of the disaster. The local government blatantly concealed the disaster situation and falsified, once again undermining the public’s confidence in the government’s credibility.
Ren Jianming said: “‘The people cannot stand without trust’. If the government has no credit and cannot gain the trust of the people, it will face a great risk of governance.”
He also pointed out that strict accountability of local officials, to a certain extent, can respond to the strong dissatisfaction of public opinion over the improper handling of the Zhengzhou floods by officials, and also make officials pay for it.
Ren Jianming said: “The high-level officials are determined to fight corruption with high pressure, but is there also ‘zero tolerance’ for officials’ moral integrity? The issue of credibility needs to be paid more attention and wider discussion.”
(The author is a Beijing special commissioner)