EARTHQUAKES, drought, floods, snow storms, hailstorms, and other natural mishaps claimed 107 lives, destroyed 150,000 homes, and caused direct economic losses of 5.78 billion yuan (US$0.7 billion) during the first four months of the year in China.
The statistics, contained in the China Disaster Report, were released yesterday by the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
In addition, 8.862 million hectares of crops were affected and 714,000 hectares were destroyed, ministry officials announced. The most unusual incident was the severe drought in the wheat-production areas in North China, where very little rain fell between September and March.
Rice-production areas in Jiangsu, Hubei and Sichuan provinces along the Yangtze River were first hit by drought and then by flooding, indicates the report. There were frequent earthquakes, but no serious losses, during the first four months.