A county government in northeastern China severely underreported the local death toll of a 2012 flood caused by typhoon rains, an anonymous letter obtained by China National Radio alleges.

The letter lists the names, ages, ethnicities, addresses, and causes of death of 38 people in Xiuyan Manchu Autonomous County, southern Liaoning province. The alleged victims, aged from 3 to 88, mostly lived in the western part of the county, where the flooding was most severe on Aug. 3 and Aug. 4, 2012.

Typhoon Damrey was the strongest typhoon to make landfall north of Shanghai in more than 60 years when it hit the Chinese coast in early August of 2012. In eastern China’s Shandong province, Damrey affected more than 2 million people and killed five. In Liaoning, torrential rains caused flooding and mudslides.

In an official announcement by the municipal government of Anshan — the city that administers Xiuyan County — published on Aug. 6, 2012, Xiuyan reported the “incomplete statistic” of five deaths and three missing people. That number was never updated.

China National Radio, a state-owned radio station, verified the information for 27 people listed in the letter and confirmed that they had passed away in the flood.

Government officials in Xiuyan County are not just suspected of falsifying the death toll but also of offering hush money to families of the victims. According to Sixth Tone’s sister publication, The Paper, 38-year-old Yang Maosheng, parent of a 3-year-old boy who died in the disaster, received compensation amounting to 20,000 yuan ($2,900) from the Hadabei Township government with the message to not “report to the higher authorities.” The Hadabei government struck a similar deal with Zhang Xiquan, who lost three relatives in the flood, China National Radio reported.

The Anshan Municipal Publicity Department stated in an announcement Monday that the government has set up a team to “thoroughly investigate the matter.” The results will be published as soon as possible, it said.

According to the “Regulation on the Relief of Natural Disasters,” a document issued by the State Council, or China’s cabinet, officials who delay, falsify, or conceal reports of casualties and losses will face punishment.

Professor Wang Zhenyao, director of the China Philanthropy Research Institute and former director of the Ministry of Civil Affairs’ disaster-relief department, told Sixth Tone that it is likely that the local leadership had little knowledge of the laws and regulations concerning natural disaster-relief measures.

“If a disaster causes 30 or more deaths, the central government will fund the relief operations,” Wang said. “No officials will be held responsible unless they respond inadequately to the disaster. If the local government were familiar with these rules, they would not have acted like they did.”

According to “The National Emergency Preplans for Natural Disaster Relief,” a natural disaster that causes the death of 30 to 50 people in one province triggers a response from the central government. In such cases, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Civil Affairs will fund the relief processes and provide necessary equipment.

Professor Wang said one possible problem in Xiuyan may have been flaws in the warning system. Several Xiuyan County residents told China National Radio that they did not receive any official warning before a mudslide struck before dawn on Aug. 4, 2012. But a Xiuyan official told the station that the government had held a flood-prevention meeting and had issued warnings on the evening of Aug. 3.

“When an early warning is issued, there are no follow-up actions,” Wang said. “How to run the system on the ground is the real challenge.”

(Header image: A villager crouches among debris after a typhoon hit Xiuyan County, Liaoning province, Aug. 13, 2012. Pan Yulong/Xinhua)