China's central government earmarked 116 million yuan (US$14.5 million) in emergency disaster relief for flood victims in south China on Wednesday.

The funds, jointly appropriated by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Finance, would be distributed among Fujian, Jiangxi and Guangdong Provinces and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, said a source with the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Continuous heavy rains since May 25 have caused serious floods in Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Sichuan and Guizhou Provinces, Guangxi, and Chongqing municipality.

To date, 137 people are known to have died in the floods and 39 are missing. The severe weather has also forced the displacement of 1.14 million people and destroyed 106,000 houses.

"Direct economic losses from the floods are estimated at 11.3 billion yuan," said an official with the ministry.

The funds are part of a relief package organized by the central authorities, regional governments and non-governmental organizations.

(Xinhua News Agency June 15, 2006)