China allocates 580 mln yuan for flood victims

Photo taken on Aug. 23, 2013 shows a breach of an embankment on the Heilong River at Bacha Township in Tongjiang, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. Several villages at Bacha Township was flooded due to an over 200-meter-wide breach of an embankment on the Heilong River. The Heilong River has swelled over the past week, with some sections seeing the worst floods in history. Some 1,340 locations on 29 stretches of embankments along the river have been reported problems. (Xinhua/Wang Kai)

Chinese central authorities on Friday allocated 580 million yuan (96.18 million US dollars) in relief funds for those affected by floods in five provincial regions.

The cash will be used to help relocate flood victims, provide temporary living accommodation, reconstruct buildings and give financial support to relatives of those who died in the floods, according to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA).

Since Aug. 14, persistent downpours have caused the worst floods since 1998 in the provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang, which are the heartland of China's grain production.

The floods have claimed at least 85 lives and left another 105 missing in the three provinces, according to local civil affairs authorities.

Since Aug. 15, Typhoon Utor triggered rainstorms killing at least 36 people in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Guangdong Province, according to the MCA.

The National Commission for Disaster Reduction and the MCA has initiated five emergency disaster relief responses, with work teams dispatched to affected areas to guide relief efforts.