Bilis kills 198 people in China

Tropical storm Bilis has killed 198 people and a further 140 remained missing on Tuesday.

The storm triggered heavy rainfall and serious floods in the provinces and regions of Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong and Guangxi. It has affected 20.167 million people and necessitated the emergency relocation of 2.203 million residents. It has affected 0.91 million hectares of crop growing areas and 0.16 million hectares of other land. There are 0.113 million collapsed houses and 0.175 million broken houses. Economic losses from the disaster amount to 11.87 billion Yuan.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs has successively activated Grade-4 and Grade-3 emergency response mechanisms since July 15.

Joint work groups from the State Council arrived at the disaster zone at 11 am on July 15. The work groups have been organized by the Civil Affairs Ministry, Water Resources Ministry, Finance Ministry, Communications Ministry, Agriculture Ministry, Health Ministry, Land and Resources Ministry, China Meteorological Administration and the headquarters of the general staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

By People's Daily Online