Monday, February 4, 2008 - 6:54 PM
In one of the biggest annual movements of humanity, about 200 million Chinese make roughly 2.2 billion trips over the Lunar New Year holiday. This year, Jack Frost made a guest appearance, causing massive travel delays, damaging key infrastructure, and disrupting coal shipments to power plants.
How does China's winter disaster stack up against Hurricane Katrina? Here's a look:
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|
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| Fatalities | 60 | 1,353 |
| Damage | $7.5 billion | $96 billion |
| Evacuees | 1.7 million | 1.1 million |
| Homes damaged or destroyed | Over 1 million | 300,000 |
| Official visits | PM Wen Jiabao to Guangzhou | Bush to New Orleans |
| Industries affected | coal | oil & gas |
| Power supply | 17 of 31 provinces in brownouts | 2.5 million without power |
| Troops Deployed | 500,000 soldiers, 1.6 million paramilitary | 50,000 National Guard Troops |
Photos: MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images; ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images
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