Amid the prolonged snow crisis, the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television began on Sunday to send 50,000 radios to the worst-hit southern provinces.

These radios would help people hear the "concerned voices of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, updated information on relief work, news, communication and weather, as well as recreational programs during the Spring Festival," said a brief statement from the two bodies.

The radios would go to central Hubei, Hunan, eastern Anhui, Jiangxi, and southwestern Sichuan, Guizhou Provinces, and southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, according to the statement.

The two departments, it said, would enhance organization to make sure these radios would "reach disaster-affected people before the Festival", which will be celebrated in mid-week.

The statement did not say how the radios would be shipped. Much of the nation's transportation system has been thrown into chaos by the weather, especially in the targeted areas.

(Xinhua News Agency February 4, 2008)