China Red Cross under fire again amid typhoon relief efforts   

红会捐赠棉被遭批 红会回应：基于地方需求 棉被用处广

向南方灾区调拨棉被，主要是根据地方上报的物资需求，此外，即使在夏季，棉被在救灾中的用处也是多样的，此次救灾中，民政部门也调拨了棉被。”针对网络上关于“红会酷暑救灾送棉被”的质疑，中国红十字会总会赈济救护部副部长杨绪生20日作出上述回应。[查看全文]

(ECNS) -- China's Red Cross is taking criticism again, this time for dispatching blankets to typhoon-stricken areas in south China.

Reports said the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) had sent several thousand cotton blankets to Guangdong province's Zhanjiang, Maoming and Yangjiang, which were hit by the strongest typhoon in four decades.

Netizens criticized the RCSC for sending blankets to areas where average temperatures reach 35°C in mid-summer.

Several victims in Xuwen county of Zhanjiang city said they needed drinking water the most, as the typhoon disrupted supplies of water and electricity, the Beijing News reported. The most needed supplies also include food, summer sleeping mats, medicine and towelling coverlets, not cotton blankets, they added.

Meanwhile, Yang Xusheng, deputy director of the Relief and Health Department under the RCSC, clarified doubts on Sunday night: "Cotton blankets are common relief supplies in China. They can also be used as mattresses for victims who sleep on the ground or on wooden planks."

Despite the heat in daytime, seniors, children and pregnant women still need cotton blankets at night, he said, adding that the Ministry of Civil Affairs also dispatched cotton blankets to the stricken areas this time.

Yang admitted that the growing distrust has been caused by the Guo Meimei incident, and that it's good for the RCSC to have such wide supervision and attention, he added.

Jackets, "family kits," tents and cash to purchase rice are also on the RCSC's relief list, according to Yang.

More than 5.57 million people have been affected by typhoon Rammasun, as it swept dozens of southern coastal cities in Guangdong and Hainan provinces, and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The death toll has increased to 17 and direct economic losses amounted to 26.55 billion yuan ($4.32 billion), official figures showed on Sunday.