Last year had the least casualties from floods and landslides in China since 1990, announced a State Flood Control and Disaster Relief (SFCDR) official at a meeting Tuesday.  

With 1,069 reported deaths and 274 people missing, 2004 figures are approximately 40 percent of the annual average casualties since 1990, Eh Jingping, secretary general of the SFCDR and vice minister of water conservancy, told a national meeting on flood control and drought relief held in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The vice-minister acknowledged that the low casualty rate was ascribed to effective early-warning, immediate and proper measures to control and divert flood water and timely evacuation. All were carried out by governments of various levels across the country.

Floods did not occur in major river valleys in 2004, which also resulted in the low casualty rate, the vice-minister said.

SFCDR statistics show that last year's floods and landslides affected 117 million people. On average since the beginning of the 1990s, China's floods and landslides have affected 151 million people and caused 3,282 deaths. 

(Xinhua News Agency January 12, 2005)