(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-02-16 21:27

BEIJING -- The People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China had deployed 729,000 soldiers by 6:00 p.m. Thursday to combat the month-long winter storms in the southern parts of the country, a military source said.

About 1.96 million militia and army reservists were participating in the disaster relief effort, the PLA's emergency response group told Xinhua. The PLA currently has 2.3 million troops.

On February 14 alone, 35,189 military personnel and 64,159 militia and army reservists were sent to assist disaster relief.

Unusual tactics, including shooting power lines with submachine guns to shatter the ice, and using tanks to crush ice on roads, were often used by soldiers.

Military vehicles such as field kitchen trucks and armored cars played an important role in de-icing and rescue missions.

By Monday, the military and armed police forces had donated 123 million yuan (about 17.6 million U.S. dollars) and 15 million items, including warm winter clothes.

The snow chaos, the worst in five decades, and even in a century in a few areas, have resulted in direct economic losses worth of 111.1 billion yuan (about 15.3 billion U.S. dollars) in structural collapse, blackouts, accidents, transport problems and livestock and crop losses, according to government estimates