Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, July 11, 2003
Flood Kills 569 People in China This Year
Flood in southeast China has killed 569 people this year, the Civil Affairs Ministry said Friday. The severe flood has forced the emergency evacuation of 2.29 million and about 9.56 million hectares of crops have been damaged by the disaster so far this year.
Flood in southeast China has killed 569 people this year, the Civil Affairs Ministry said Friday. The severe flood has forced the emergency evacuation of 2.29 million and about 9.56 million hectares of crops have been damaged by the disaster so far this year.
However, this year's flood situation in China is no more severe than the average year and far better than in 1991 and 1998, an official disaster report said Friday.
The report released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs said that some 569 people have been killed during the year's floods and direct economic losses of 39.87 billion yuan (about 4.8 billion US dollars) have been caused.
As of July 10, 9.559 million hectares of farmland had been affected and some 1.458 million hectares had suffered total crop failure.
The normal lives and production of nearly 140 million people has been affected, with 51,000 people struck ill or injured and 2.292 million people having been evacuated.
The ministry did not give losses from previous years, but according to reports, in 1998, more than 2,000 people were killed in seasonal floods.
As the rainfall along the Huaihe River Valley still continues, the flood situation in Hubei and Hunan Provinces along the lower reaches of the Yangtze River is deteriorating fast, posing a great challenge to the country's emergency rescue capabilities, said the report.