WEATHER CRISIS * China & Japan - Warns worst not over

China warned Saturday the worst was not over in its national weather crisis as desperate holiday travellers jammed transport hubs and others endured bitter winter storms without power or water

Guangzhou,China -AFP/WeatherOnline (London,UK) -2 Feb 2008: -- ... Bracing for still more foul weather and an accelerating travel rush, China has doubled the number of troops and paramilitary forces aiding winter storm relief efforts to more than a million, state media reported... The worst winter in decades has caused massive transport bottlenecks and power outages across wide areas in the lead-up to next week's Lunar New Year, China's biggest annual holiday... The China Meteorological Administration said some of the worst-affected central, eastern and southern provinces faced several more days of snow and freezing rain from a cold front parked over the region since early January... (Video from Yo0uTube, by WarrenPongchai -February 01, 2008: "China Encounters the Worst Snow in 50 Years " - Snowstorms raging across central China's Hunan Province have lasted for over 10 days, making situation graver in the province, reported by Xinhua News Agency on Friday... Hit by the strong cold front, Hunan province suffered its coldest winter as well as the longest snowfall in record in the past 50 years... The freakish weather is China's worst in five decades, paralyzing the country's densely populated central and eastern regions just as tens of millions of travelers were seeking to board trains and buses to return home for this month's Lunar New Year holiday... The severe weather swept over 13 cities and 82 counties in Hunan, affecting more than 13 million people with three fatalities reported)


* Japan - Snow hits Tokyo - Flights and trains cancelled


Tokyo,Japan -AFP/WeatherOnline (London,UK) -3 Feb 2008: -- Dozens of flights and trains were cancelled Sunday as snow blanketed Tokyo and its vicinities, with more than 170 people injured in weather-related accidents, officials and news reports said. Japanese airlines cancelled more than 140 domestic flights, mainly to or from Tokyo's Haneda airport, where one of the three runways was temporarily closed as snow disturbed the guidance system, officials said. Several train services in the capital were also cancelled, while Shinkansen bullet trains were delayed, train company officials said. Highways were closed at many points in Tokyo and its environs as three centimetres (more than an inch) of snow fell in the capital. At least 53 people were sent to hospital in snow-related incidents in Tokyo, said a spokesman for the Tokyo Fire Department... (Video from YouTube, by larryfu -February 03, 2008: "Heavy Snow in Tokyo", 2nd snow this winter)