A total of 310 million people have been affected by natural disasters of various types in China so far this year, the Civil Affairs Ministry announced on Wednesday.

Direct economic losses caused by natural disasters totaled 126.4 billion yuan (about US$16.85 billion), according to the Ministry.

To date, the National Disaster Reduction Commission and the Ministry of Civil Affairs have launched emergency response systems on 41 occasions. They have distributed 40,600 tents to disaster-ravaged provinces in order to ensure temporary shelters for evacuated locals.

The State Council has decided to increase the disaster relief fund from 6.7 billion yuan to 11.54 billion yuan.

(Xinhua News Agency August 22, 2007)