Chinese authorities have stepped up emergency measures as Typhoon Bavi is set to slam into the country's eastern coast, disrupting rail, air and ferry services and forcing travel operators to suspend routes.
Typhoon Bavi, the ninth typhoon of the year, is expected to make landfall along the coast between Sanmen and Cangnan in east China's Zhejiang Province in the early hours of Sunday. After landfall, it is forecast to move northwestward and then shift toward a more northerly direction.
Railway operators have suspended train services on multiple lines in the Yangtze River Delta, Fujian, Jiangxi and Guangdong due to the approaching typhoon.
The China Railway Nanchang Group has raised its flood and typhoon emergency response to Level II on sections of the Hefei-Fuzhou, Changfu and Yongguang high-speed railways, as well as the Quzhou-Ningde, Yingtan-Xiamen and Fuzhou-Pingtan lines.
At Shangrao and Fuzhou stations in Jiangxi, non-slip mats have been laid in passages and stairways, with staff on duty to keep floors dry.
Additional ticketing and refund windows have been opened to reduce waiting times, and station personnel have been deployed at gates and passageways to guide passengers.
"The railway station has stepped up its public address system with more frequent announcements, providing real-time train service updates, timetables and travel tips on a continuous loop. Information is being synchronized across multiple platforms to ensure passengers have access to the latest travel updates at all times," said Wang Mengli, railway staff at Shangrao Station.
In addition, railway bureaus in vulnerable cities, including Nanning in the south, Shenyang in the northeast, and even the inland metropolis Chengdu, have implemented flood prevention measures.
Drones and ground patrols have been deployed to monitor high-risk sections, while speed restrictions, section closures and temporary suspensions have been implemented on affected lines in the southwest and northeast in response to heavy rainfall expected in the coming days.
Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Hainan Airlines have announced flexible ticket policies for passengers affected by Typhoon Bavi, offering free flight changes or full refunds without penalty for eligible tickets.
In coastal east China's Fujian, 70 of the province's 71 passenger ferry routes have been suspended as of noon Saturday, with vessels weighing over 50,000 tonnes and those carrying dangerous goods in the river mouth north of the port city Quanzhou relocated to shelter from the storm.
Authorities suspend services across rail, air, ferry as Typhoon Bavi approaches
Days after a powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia on Aug 10, families in Cali, the worst affected city, are confronting heartbreaking obstacles simply to lay their loved ones to rest.
Cali's morgue sustained damage in the quake and was forced to close operations after part of the Hospital Universitario del Valle collapsed. As a result, recovered bodies must be transported to the neighboring town of Palmira, which escaped structural destruction.
The influx has severely overwhelmed Palmira's facilities, leaving them short on refrigeration capacity. Grieving relatives waiting outside must wear masks as they endure agonizing waits, caught in a system operating far beyond its designed capacity.
While some families have managed to bid a painful farewell and gained a measure of closure, such as the relatives of Maria Esmeralda Ordonez in Cali, countless others remain in painful limbo.
"Thankfully it's not turned out like it has for others who today are still fighting to rescue loved ones, people who are still lying beneath the rubble. The chances of survival are very slim, but miracles are happening," said Ivan Delgado, a relative of Maria Esmeralda Ordonez.
For many families whose relatives have been recovered, the ordeal is far from over. They must navigate the bureaucracy that comes with a death.
Securing the release of a body requires a prosecutor's order, an accompanying undertaker, and a considerable amount of paperwork -- a grueling process compounded by a system operating well beyond its capacity.
Camilo Mendez, a relative of victims, knew this pain firsthand after an agonizing three-day wait to claim the bodies of his aunt and grandmother.
"From the information we've gotten here and there, you can really tell we're not prepared for this kind of event. Moving the bodies, all of it, it was very slow, very disorganized. My grandmother and my aunt were in one place, then another. It was pretty chaotic, honestly," said Mendez.
To support the exhausted crowds, volunteers and psychologists have set up tents near the Palmira facility, offering comfort and counseling.
"It's an exhausting process. You're here waiting for an answer, and no one knows when it will come. There are people with one, five, six relatives they can't find. A body may be recovered today, another tomorrow, and that's how it's gone," said Alison Morales, a volunteer psychologist.
"The community has been extraordinary, all kinds of donations, the communal kitchen, water for the people waiting," she added.
Although Palmira itself was spared the worst of the earthquake -- sustaining cracks on a few buildings and no fatalities -- it has absorbed the profound, far-reaching grief of a region struggling to bury its dead.
Families face heart-breaking delays burying victims of Colombian earthquake
