Chinese President Hu Jintao has urged the safeguarding of the production and transport of coal for power generation, in light of the severe weather affecting much of the country.

The president was on an inspection tour of coal fields in Datong in Shanxi Province and Qinhuangdao Port in Hebei province in northern China on Thursday.

In Datong, Hu Jintao entered a coal mine more than 400 meters underground to meet miners.

Disaster-hit areas need coal and the power plants need coal. I hope you produce as much coal as you could to provide more fuel for generating electricity.

At the side of a facility that transfers coal to vessels in Qinhuangdao Port, the president told dockworkers to maintain all equipment in good condition and improve the efficiency of coal transportation to vessels.

The southern areas were hit by heavy snows and ice. We must take the overall situation into consideration. I hope you can make more contributions to disaster relief in the southern areas.

Qinhuangdao is the busiest shipping port, which transfers coal for power generation from Shanxi Province to southern China by ship, with a special railway connecting Datong.

To maintain uninterrupted coal supplies, the port has been operating around the clock since the severe weather hit central and southern China, where power grids have been seriously damaged. The blackouts shut down electrified railways in those areas as well.

More than 30 million people have been affected by the power shortages, many of them stranded en route home for the traditional Spring Festival family reunions.

The snow, the heaviest in a decade in many places, has been falling in China's east, central and southern regions since Jan. 10, causing deaths, structural collapses, blackouts, highway closures and crop destruction.