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Wednesday, August 21, 2002 - Web posted at 8:45:09 am GMT

BEIJING, Aug 21 (AFP) - A state of emergency has been declared across China's central province of Hunan, where more than 10 million people are under threat from surging water levels in a huge lake, Red Cross officials said Wednesday.

"I have just been talking to our Chinese Red Cross colleagues in Hunan, and they say the provincial governor has declared a state of emergency for all Hunan," said France Hurtubise, an International Red Cross spokeswoman in Beijing.

"They are very worried about the situation. The state of emergency means more workers will be mobilised, and some people will be moved from around the lake," she said.

Thousands of people have been working around the clock to shore up flood defences around Dongting Lake, which acts as a flood buffer for the Yangtze River.

Around 900 people have already died in flooding around China this summer, and fears are mounting the devastation could match that of 1998, when 4,000 people died in floods centred around Dongting and the Yangtze.

Local officials did not want to speculate on whether the current situation was dangerous yet, Hurtubise said.

"I have been asking that, but local officials do not want to comment on the possibibility," she said.

pw/nj Nampa-AFP WEB story ENDS (NAMPA 210403)

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