BEIJING, Dec. 23-- The ministries of finance and civil affairs on Tuesday jointly announced they had assigned 7.1 billion yuan (1.14 billion U.S. dollars) to help residents that had suffered as a result of natural disasters.

The money will be allocated in two stages, with 5.68 billion yuan distributed before the upcoming Spring Festival, which falls on Feb. 19, and the remainder around the time of the national holiday, according to the Civil Affairs Ministry.

Vice Civil Affairs Minister Jiang Li underscored that it was the responsibility of the relevant local governments to ensure residents -- displaced or effected by earthquakes, typhoons, floods, drought and landslides -- received the financial assistance in a timely manner as winter was coming.

Natural disasters in the last month alone, which included two major earthquakes measuring magnitude 5, had effected more than 210,000 residents of 39 county-level regions and displaced thousands.