A variety of natural disasters killed 2,309 Chinese people, left
567 people missing and demolished 1.6 million rooms during the
first nine months this year, according to figures released from a
government disaster-relief meeting on Tuesday.
"This year China has been hit by the most severe natural
disasters since 1998," said Li Xueju, Minister of Civil Affairs and
vice director of the State Disaster Reduction Commission.
The government has responded to the disasters by increasing
financial aid for disaster relief. So far, the Ministry of Civil
Affairs has allocated 3.2 billion yuan of the central government's
emergency disaster relief funds and 44,100 tents to the affected
areas.
China has established a system that provides early warnings of
potential natural disasters, which enables the release of real-time
information on weather, earthquake prediction, land resources and
oceans through telephone, Internet, radio, television and wireless
communication networks.
Ninety-three percent of China's prefectures and 82 percent of
its counties have established quick-response plans to deal with
natural disasters.
(Xinhua News Agency October 11, 2006)