BEIJING, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- More than 81 million Chinese living in disaster-affected areas will need food rations to help them through winter, the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs said.
The ministry said Thursday the 81.37 million people in the disaster-hit areas this year is 25 percent more than the average number for the past 20 years, China's state-run news agency Xinhua reported.
The ministry, noting 20 million people would need clothing or heating assistance as well, said it set aside $617 million to buy food, clothing, quilts and heaters for residents of the disaster-stricken areas.
"Relief funds from the central government must reach county-level governments by mid-December, and their civil affairs departments must ensure that relief money and materials reach the hands of local people by the end of December," Vice Minister of Civil Affairs Luo Pingfei said.
In areas where reconstruction won't be finished by the end of the year, "local governments must make sure that every disaster-hit person has a warm place to spend the winter," Luo told the meeting.
Xinhua reported Ministry of Land and Resources data indicated five major rock- and mudslides in China's Guizhou, Gansu and Yunnan provinces resulted in about 2,000 people killed or reported missing.
UPI
