Man-Made Snowfalls Kill Four In China

                 Damage caused by the snow -- created to battle a
                 chronic drought in the north -- is estimated at
                 millions

                 BEIJING -- Heavy snowfalls, which have left four dead
                 in northern China since the start of the year, were
                 created artificially by the authorities to battle the chronic
                 drought.

                 In the extreme north-western region of Xinjiang, a
                 record-breaking 60 cm of snow fell on the capital
                 Urumqi, the official Xinhua news agency said.

                 In the north-west, close to the border of Kazakhstan,
                 snowfalls left four dead and five hurt.

                 A trail of damage has been estimated at 20 million yuan
                 (S$3.84 million) in Ili district of Xinjiang.

                 "We are spreading chemical products in the clouds to
                 increase the amount of snow falling to the ground," Mr
                 Li Yong, a spokesman for the meteorological station in
                 Beijing, said yesterday.

                 But their efforts had not been the cause of the record
                 snowfall.

                 "The effect is marginal and very localised," he added.

                 Specialists use iodide and liquified nitrogen introduced
                 into the clouds at 3,000m after being fired from the
                 ground in canons or dropped by balloons.

                 The operation costing "several tens of millions of yuan"
                 had been tried three times since the start of the year in
                 the Beijing area, he added.

                 The authorities said they had used the artificial methods
                 to create snow in order to battle the severe drought
                 problem in northern China which has presisted for
                 several years.

                 The lower reaches of the Yellow River, the second
                 largest in the vast country, ran dry for 226 days in 1998.

                 So far this year, more than 200 homes have been
                 destroyed by the heavy snowfalls and 2,000 farm
                 animals killed. About 4,300 households and 400,000
                 animals remained stranded with snowfall likely to
                 continue until Tuesday.

                 Transport was also disrupted with many roads to Beijing
                 cut, and 80 flights into the capital cancelled.

                 However, a spokesman for the airport said the situation
                 was back to normal by yesterday. -- AFP, Xinhua

                       Adapted from The Straits Times, 13 Jan 2000.