China allocates 160 mln yuan for disaster relief

BEIJING, July 6 (Xinhua) -- China has allocated 160 million yuan (about 23.5 million U.S. dollars) in central natural disaster relief funds to support rescue and relief work in six provincial-level regions, authorities said Monday.

The funds, jointly allocated by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Emergency Management, will support flood and geological disaster relief work in Guangxi, Hunan, Liaoning, Jilin, Anhui and Shandong.

Affected by Typhoon Maysak, the 10th typhoon of this year, as well as a cold vortex in northeast China and the southwest monsoon, many areas in northeast, north and south China have been hit by rain-triggered floods, causing casualties and house collapses.

The funds will be mainly used for search and rescue operations, the relocation and resettlement of disaster-affected people, emergency response including risk elimination, emergency treatment of potential secondary-disaster hazards, and the repair of damaged homes.

From Monday evening to Wednesday, parts of Guangxi, Guangdong, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, Shandong and Liaoning are expected to see heavy downpours or rainstorms, with extremely heavy rain forecast in some areas, including eastern Guangxi, the National Meteorological Center said.

The affected areas face high meteorological risks of mountain torrents, geological disasters, flooding in small and medium-sized rivers, and urban waterlogging, the center said.