China allocates 8.06 b yuan for disaster victims

BEIJING -- The National Commission for Disaster Reduction (NCDR) and the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA) allocated over 8.06 billion yuan ($1.24 billion) to provide support for disaster victims in 2017, said a national civil affairs conference Wednesday.

The NCDR and the MCA initiated disaster emergency responses 17 times in 2017 to deal with severe disasters including earthquakes, landslides and floods. The two agencies also sent 17 work teams to help with disaster relief, according to the conference.

China has built up a disaster reporting network covering the township level with 734,000 disaster messengers, said the conference.

In 2017, 438 key messengers received training held by the MCA to improve their skills and to lead disaster report work at the basic level, the MCA said.

China has built over 2,300 storage depots for relief supplies at the county, city, provincial and central levels, according to the conference.