Flood control, rescue efforts accelerated to seal levee breach in Henan

Flood control and rescue efforts are continuing around the clock after a levee breach along the Beiru River in Jiaxian County, central China's Henan Province, following extreme rainfall and large-scale flood discharge from upstream reservoirs.

The breach occurred on Wednesday evening in Yuxi Village, Changqiao Township, with its width initially exceeding 40 meters.

Before 03:00 on Thursday morning, local authorities had evacuated 2,182 local residents in two rounds. No reports of people trapped or casualties had been received.

After the breach, rescue teams mobilized resources by land, water and air to accelerate the efforts to close the gap.

On Thursday, more than 2,800 personnel, including members of the armed police, firefighters and police, took part in the initial emergency response, using hand carrying, boats and machinery to move materials to the site.

By Friday, the rescuers had shifted to a more direct method of plugging the breach, pouring concrete into the opening. Concrete mixers were connected to pipelines, through which concrete was pumped toward the front line to reinforce and seal the breach.

The breach, about 47 meters wide and 8 meters deep, had seen more than 20 meters sealed by Friday morning, bringing the work close to halfway complete.

Flood control, rescue efforts accelerated to seal levee breach in Henan

Filipino demonstrators gathered outside the Japanese embassy in Manila, the Philippine's capital, on Friday to commemorate the victims of Japan's wartime military sexual slavery, commonly referred to as "comfort women," seeking justice for these victims, and opposing war and military expansion.

The protesters, including family members of sexual slavery victims and civil society members, urged the Philippine government to expedite the passage of a bill designating August 14 as the national Memorial Day for "Comfort Women."

In 2012, the 11th Asian Alliance Conference for "Comfort Women" designated August 14 as the International Memorial Day for "Comfort Women."

An estimated 200,000 women from China and many others from the Korean Peninsula, the Philippines, Indonesia and some other countries, euphemistically known as "comfort women", were forced into sexual servitude by Japanese troops. Many of them died.

During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines from 1942 to 1945, an estimated 1,000 Filipino women were forcibly conscripted as "comfort women."

Protest in Manila commemorates victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery