General Situation

General Climate Situation in China    In 2005, the average annual precipitation of the country was a little more than the historical average, the annual average temperature was distinctively higher than the historical average, and the annual number of sunshine hours in most parts of mainland China was near or less than the historical average. Although there was no incidence of large-scale and lasting severe drought during the whole year and the frequency of spring sandstorms was less than the historical average. However, disasters like typhoon, rainstorm and flood and low temperature and freeze injury were more severe than normal years, and severe convective weathers such as gale, hail, tornado and thunderstorm occurred frequently. In 2005, the climatic disasters on the whole were similar to that of normal years with better agricultural climate. Compared with 2004, the degree of climatic disasters was heavier and the overall situation was worse than normal level.

Precipitation Distribution   The average annual precipitation of China in 2005 was 631 mm, 17.7 mm more than in normal years. Most parts of China received the annual precipitation over 500 mm except for regions of the northern part of North China, Northwest China, southwestern part of Southwest China and Inner Mongolia where annual precipitation were below 500 mm.

Changes in Average Annual Precipitation of China (in millimeter)

Distribution of Precipitation in China in 2005 (in millimeter)

Temperature Distribution  The national annual average temperature in 2005 was 9.4℃, 0.6℃ higher than previous years. It was also the sixth warmest year since 1951. It was at the same level with 2003 while a bit lower than in 2004. Besides, the annual average temperature was higher than the historical average for the 9^th consecutive year.

Changes of Annual Average Temperature of China (℃)

Climate Disasters  In 2005, China experienced various kinds of climatic disasters such as drought, rainstorm and flood, typhoon, gale, hail, thunderstorm, tornado, high temperature, snow disaster, low temperature and freeze. Within the whole year, various kinds of natural disasters had incurred direct economic losses totaling 204.2 billion yuan with 2,475 deaths, falling into the category of rather severe disaster hit years. A total of 38.818 million ha of crops were affected, among which drought, 69% suffered from rainstorm and flood disasters. In the southern part of South China, severe drought stretched across the three seasons of autumn, winter and spring; Yunnan experienced heavy drought in spring which rarely occurred in the past 50 years; the northeastern part of Northwest China and Inner Mongolia witnessed lasting drought during summer and autumn; the western part of the regions south of the Yangtze River and the western part of South China saw a certain period of prominent drought in autumn; the Xijiang River, Minjiang River, Huaihe River basins, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan and Liaoning suffered from great rainstorm and flood disasters; and the Weihe River and Han River basins were stricken by very big flood during the autumn.

【Drought】In 2005, the scope of areas hit by drought was relatively small with less economic loss. Fortunately, there was no lasting severe drought on large scale, and the drought degree was lower than previous years. However, in the southern part of South China, severe drought lasted for three seasons of autumn, winter and spring; Yunnan experienced heavy drought in spring rarely occurred in the past 50 years; the mid and lower reaches of the Yangtze River were hit by drought in early summer; the northeastern part of Northwest China and Inner Mongolia witnessed lasting drought during summer and autumn; the western part of the regions south of the Yangtze River and the western part of South China saw a certain period of prominent drought in autumn.

【Typhoon/Tropical Storm】There were 8 typhoons or tropical storms landed in China in 2005. These typhoons were of high grade, large scale and heavy damaging impact causing the greatest losses ever since 1997. In particular, No. 0509 typhoon of "Matsa" was the one causing the largest scale of impact and economic losses.

【Storm and Flood】 The disaster of storm and flood in 2005 was heavier than in normal years. The Xijiang River, Minjiang River, Huaihe River basins, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan and Liaoning suffered from great rainstorm and flood disaster, and Weihe River and Han River basins suffered from very big flood during autumn.

【Sand Storm】During the spring of 2005, 5 sand and dust storms occurred across China, the strongest of which occurred from April 27~28, strongly affecting Eren Hot City, Abag Banner, Mandula area and Xilin Hot City of Inner Mongolia.

【Thunderstorm】In 2005, the disaster of thunder strike hit across the country with high frequency, large scale and great impact. According to estimate, more than 11,000 cases of thunder strikes occurred in 2005 around China, among which over 700 cases caused human casualties, and over 200 cases caused fire or explosion accidents. Consequently, more than 1,100 cases of building damage and over 2,700 cases of power supply failure occurred. Throughout the whole year of 2005, thunderstorm disasters had altogether caused more than 1,300 casualties with around RMB 600 million yuan direct economic losses and several billion yuan indirect economic losses.

Typhoons and Tropical Storms Landed in China in 2005

Major Sand and Dust Weathers in China in the Spring of 2005

Earthquake Disasters  In 2005, China had experienced 22 earthquakes over the Richter scale of 5, four of which were of Richter scale 6 ~ 7 and the remaining 18 were of Richter scale 5 ~ 6. Mainland China was hit by 13 earthquakes and Taiwan by 9 quakes.

11 of the earthquakes that occurred in the mainland in 2005 caused disasters. The population affected by the disasters was 2.084 million. The total area affected by the disasters was approximately 15039.7km². 15 people died, 90 were heavily injured, and 777 were lightly injured. The disasters altogether caused damages to houses of 3,457,153m², 543,515m²were of severe damage, 9,916,280m²were of medium damage and 10,624,541m²were of slight damage. The direct economic loss caused by earthquake disasters was RMB 2.63 billion yuan.

Earthquake Disasters and Their Damages in Mainland China in 2005

No.	Date		Venue	Magni- tude	Casualties (Persons)			Damage to Buildings (m2)				Direct economic losses ( 10,000 yuan)
	Day/Month	Time			Death	Serious-ly injured	Slightly injured	Des- troyed	Seri- ous	Medium	Light
1	Jan, 5th	6:05	Barkam, Sichuan	4.7	0	0	0		1420	18188	98814	653
2	Jan, 26th	0:30	Simao, Yunnan	5.0	0	0	5	9870	28206	83617	442485	5280
3	Feb., 15th	7:38	Wushen, Xinjiang	6.2	0	0	0	197121	278622	657521	945201	15757.43
	Feb., 15th	19:16	Wushen, Xinjiang	5.1
4	April, 8th	4:04	Zhongba, Tibet	6.5	0	0	0		2151	6053	11496	1034.2
	April, 8th	5:41	Zhongba, Tibet	5.2
5	June, 2nd	4:06	Medog, Tibet	5.9	0	0	0	5048	16513	31789	78177	4187.4
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