The Ministry of Civil Affairs reported Monday that floods in south China's eight provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities this year have claimed 148 lives and caused direct economic losses worth 5.96 billion yuan (about US$718 million).

Statistics released by the ministry showed that by June 30, floods had affected 1.98 million hectares of farmland and 44.75 million residents in the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi, Chongqing, Sichuan and Guizhou.

Governments at all levels paid close attention to the situation and have allocated special funds and materials to those flood-stricken areas. To date, Hubei Province has earmarked 15 million yuan (about US$1.81 million) for its disaster relief work.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Finance have allocated six million yuan (about US$0.72 million), seven million yuan (about US$0.84 million) and 12 million yuan (about US$1.45 million) respectively to Hubei and Jiangxi provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region for local disaster relief.

(Xinhua News Agency July 1, 2003)