Natural adversities in the past year ranging from floods, hail, snowstorms and landslides to plant diseases and insect plagues have caused a loss of 970 million yuan (US$117 million) in northwestern Qinghai province.

The disasters claimed a toll of 10 lives and more than 730,000 head of livestock and some 2.5 million residents were affected to some degree, said statistics from the provincial Ministry of Civil Affairs available Thursday.

Crop yields were poor due to incessant rainfall and high humid temperatures in June 2002 and stripe rust and other diseases and insects in over 90 percent of wheat crop acreages.

Despite high altitude on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, the province was, nevertheless, plagued by flooding last year which destroyed more than 40,000 houses.

The provincial government has allocated more than 59 million yuan (some UA$7 million) in aid to victims, and other disaster relief programs are currently under way.

(Xinhua News Agency January 24, 2003)