Beijing, August 1: At least 22 people have died and 50,000 were forced to evacuate in a month due to floods and storms that hit China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
The disasters, as of today, affected 1.96 million people in 70 county-level regions and 618,500 hectares of farmland, and caused the collapse and damage to a total of 71,300 houses, the ministry of civil affairs said, citing a report by the regional Civil Affairs Bureau.
The disasters have caused a total of 4.45 billion yuan ($691 million) in direct economic losses in Inner Mongolia, it said.
As part of the country's emergency response to the floods and storms, the National Commission for Disaster Reduction and the ministry this afternoon dispatched a work team to assess the situation and direct relief work in the region, Xinhua reported.
At the same time, a lingering drought has caused a water shortage for 4.28 million people in Inner Mongolia, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and the provinces of Gansu, Guizhou and Hunan, the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters said in a statement.
Till Sunday, a total of 63.34 million mu (4.22 million hectares) of arable land was affected by the drought, the statement noted.
Some 3.88 million heads of livestock suffered from water shortage, it added. PTI
