At least 60 dead in Chinese snowstorms
Snowstorms that have battered many parts of China over the last three weeks have killed at least 60 people and caused 53.3bn Yuan (€5bn) in damage.
The storms have already crippled transportation during China's biggest holiday travel season, with the Ministry of Railways saying millions were stranded at stations around the country.
The freakish weather is China's worst in five decades and paralysed the country's densely-populated central and eastern regions just as tens of millions of travellers were seeking to board trains and buses to return home for this month's Lunar New Year holiday.
In the last week, more than 5.8 million people have been stranded at railway stations.
Zhao Chunlei, deputy director of the Regulation Department of the Ministry of Railways, said the railways would focus on transporting coal and restoring the capacity of trunk lines over the next 10 days.
Mr Zhao and officials from other key agencies spoke at a news conference today to explain the government's response to the disaster.
Zou Ming, deputy director of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, said the government was taking steps to get relief materials to all affected areas.
"The power grid network has also been greatly damaged," he said.
In addition to the economic losses, Chinese stocks fell today on worries over the impact of disruptions caused by the severe weather.
Zhu Hongren, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission - the country's top economic planning body - said the disaster had taken a toll on China's economy, but it would be only short term.
"The economic fundamentals of the Chinese economy are still sound, and I believe the momentum of fairly rapid and steady growth of the Chinese economy will continue," he said.
More bad weather is forecast, with snow still falling in four central and eastern provinces.
The crisis comes just months ahead of the Beijing Olympics, an event of enormous national importance that the Communist government has pledged to make a success at any cost.
Beijing, like most of northern China, has been spared the wild weather and was cold but clear today.
The weather has affected about 80 million people. Power cuts have plunged huge cities into darkness, with parts of Chenzhou, a city of 1.2 million in Hunan, without power for eight days.
Most of Chenzhou's shops closed, leading to shortages of basic goods, and fire trucks were dispatched to distribute water to residents because pumps stopped working and pipes froze.
The city had just seven days of diesel fuel and enough rice for five days, requiring emergency supplies to be brought in from neighbouring areas under difficult conditions.
Cancellations of rail and bus services have led to chaotic scenes at the key rail hub of Guangzhou as hundreds of thousands of migrant workers desperately try to board trains to travel home for the only chance many have of seeing their families all year.
