Daily Lessons from Life 19 June 2010 - More than 1 m evacuated in China over flood threat

"More than 1 m evacuated in China over flood threat - Sat, Jun 19, 2010 AFP

BEIJING, CHINA (AFP) - More than a million people living along rivers in China's south have been evacuated with water rising to dangerous levels, state media said Saturday, as torrential rain continues to wreak havoc.

The government said more than 1.4 million residents of riverbanks and low-lying areas had had to move, according to the official China Daily."

Whenever I look at number that come out of PRC China, I never failed to be impressed and awed! 1m to be evacuated! 1m! Almost 25% of Singapore population! Of course if we put it in % of the total population of China, it is insignificant. This is the challenge for outsider to properly comprehend and interpret figures from China.

Lessons for me are:

1. absolute number is important. At the same time, so is % of the total. e.g. China is a 1.4b market is exaggeration for sure unless the produce is air and water! Otherwise, real market are those that can afford and have the need for the product or service or solution;

2. those who read numbers and figures will have to know the intention of anyone who tried to quote absolute or relative numbers. Otherwise the 'skilled' communicators can make one looked foolish and march to their tunes!;

3. regardless of the % to the total population, the 1m people affected will definitely pose tremendous logistic and transportation efforts and resources. Only through sheer perseverance and discipline can the authorities safely move so many people. If you can make business of these 1m, it is already a significant transaction! There lies the attraction of the China market.

May the flood alert be a false alarm. If not, 1m people on the move will be a sight to behold as well as to take pity on the massive misery it will create. By the way, it shows that water is more dangerous than mountain as the mountain does not come to you while water do!!