Ministry reports fewer deaths from natural disasters this year

The data was made public as the country is confronted with an increasingly grimmer flood control situation due to sustained downpours across the country, especially in southern China.

China's national observatory on Monday renewed its yellow alert for rainstorms, the second lowest in a four-tier color-coded weather warning system, saying that heavy rain and rainstorms are expected in Shanghai and Chongqing municipalities and the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou, Yunnan and Heilongjiang from Monday morning to Tuesday morning.

Some of these regions will see more than 8 centimeters of hourly precipitation accompanied by thunderstorms and strong winds, the National Meteorological Center said.

The center has issued an alert for heavy rains every day since June 2.Though it canceled a blue alert early on Friday, it issued a new one only 12 hours later.

Due to downpours from Sunday to Wednesday in many areas around the Yangtze River Basin, floods may raise water in the Yangtze's middle and lower reaches above the danger mark. The risk of mountain torrents and floods in medium and small rivers in the affected areas will be high, the ministry said in another release.

It said it has dispatched 13,177 rescuers from national fire rescue teams to be stationed in high-risk areas so that they could respond quicker in their flood control and rescue efforts.

The ministry also said over 11.64 million people in 14 provincial regions suffered drought during the first six months this year, which resulted in direct economic losses of almost 6.6 billion yuan.

"In the first half of the year, the campaign on outdoor ignition sources control saw marked and significant results. The number of forest and prairie fires decreased sharply and reached a 10-year low," the ministry said.

In total, 806 forest fires occurred during the first six months, killing 34 people, it said.