BEIJING, Aug. 22 -- Frequent natural disasters including floods and typhoons have affected about 71.8 million people in China since June, leaving 627 dead or missing, according to data from the Ministry of Emergency Management.

Destroying houses and damaging crops, natural disasters have caused direct economic losses of 215.3 billion yuan (about 30.5 billion U.S. dollars) since June 1, the ministry said at a press conference Thursday.

Rounds of rainstorms and floods have wreaked havoc in the south, while strong typhoons have caused substantial damage to the country's east.

To minimize the damages and support post-disaster reconstruction, China has allocated a total of 3.49 billion yuan from the central budget to regions hit by the disasters.

The ministry said the impact of natural disasters was less than the average level of the same period over the past five years.