In an emergency move to help those affected, the central government has earmarked more than 23.4 million yuan (US$2.8 million), sources with the Ministry of Civil Affairs said over the weekend.

In Central China's Hubei Province, a landslide killed six miners in the city of Shiyan on Tuesday. In a separate incident last Friday seven villagers were killed and another seven are missing in the province's Xiangfan and Xiaogan.

Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality has also been badly hit by torrential rain and flooding which left seven dead in the past week.

In Huaying of Sichuan Province, a series of floods have caused about 150 landslides, which affected 217,000 residents and claimed two villagers.

Seventy-two workers on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway had a lucky escape after they were trapped by a flood waters. The military joined in that successful rescue operation which ended on Thursday night, with no reports of deaths or injuries.

Torrential rain also hit major areas of South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, causing flooding and a ban of navigation on the Lijiang River.

Since Thursday afternoon, rainstorms have ravaged the upper reaches of the Lijiang, causing the river to surge two metres above the danger level.

The local navigation department explained that the ban was brought in to ensure the safety of tourists.

Flooding and torrential rain has affected rail and road links in central and southern China in the past three days. Several railway lines and long-distance bus routes were subject to delays or cancellations on Thursday and Friday in Hubei and Jiangxi provinces.

The Central Meteorological Observatory warned that heavy or torrential rain was set to continue for the rest of June in the regions of Huaihe River basin, the lower and middle reaches of the Yangtze River basin, Sichuan, Guangxi and Guangdong provinces.

Flood prevention authorities on Friday issued orders requiring governments in those regions to take effective measures to minimize losses caused by flooding.

It also warned that the deluges which have hit southern and central areas of China in recent days, are forecasted to strike the Uygur and Tibet autonomous regions, eastern parts of Northwest China and some parts of Northeast China and North China.

To counter possible flooding in the valley of the Yellow River, thousands of soldiers have been working for the past several days to set in place emergency procedures and defences and strengthen dikes along some sections of the river.

(People's Daily June 28, 2003)