Nearly 5m affected by natural disasters in SW China's Yunnan in Jan-April

KUNMING -- Three people were killed and nearly 5 million affected by natural disasters in Southwest China's Yunnan province in the first four months of this year, local authorities said Saturday.

Since January, the province has been mainly hit by drought, hailstorms and disastrous snow, which have forced more than 500 people to relocate, said the provincial emergency management department.

Destroying houses and damaging crops, natural disasters caused Yunnan direct economic losses of 4.17 billion yuan (about $590 million) during the period.