Society

3,514 people die in natural disasters in H1

By Zhang Jiawei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-07-09 19:01

A total of 3,514 people died and 486 were reported missing in natural disasters including floods, drought, cold, landslides and earthquakes in the first half of this year, Xinhua News Agency reported Thursday citing sources from the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

The natural disasters have left 250 million people affected and 6.44 million evacuated. A total of 20.3 million hectares of crops were affected, with 3 million hectares completely damaged.

Economic losses due to natural disasters in the first half of this year topped 211.4 billion yuan ($31 billion).