Families of deceased in NW China storms compensated

The families of the 37 people who have died since hail and torrential rains battered a mountainous county in northwest China will each get 8,000 yuan (1,270 U.S. dollars) in compensation, local officials said Saturday.

Nineteen people remained missing as of Saturday in the worst-hit Minxian county, Gansu province, after the region was battered by bad weather Thursday, said officials with the provincial government.

As of 6 p.m. Friday, the storms had affected 358,000 people in Minxian county, forcing nearly 30,000 local residents to be evacuated. And 40 people have been hospitalized, according to county's civil affairs bureau.

The provincial government will also offer those affected by the storms subsidies of 10 yuan per day for the first 15 days following the disaster. The subsidies will remain available to those without an income or family support for the next three months, provincial government officials said.

The provincial government has encouraged relocated residents to take shelter with relatives or friends, and those who still need help can live in tents provided by the county government.

Minxian is a mountainous county in the city of Dingxi with a population of 450,000.

Hail and torrential rains have cut power in six townships of Minxian, damaged several homes, hospitals and schools, disrupted traffic on two interprovincial highways and destroyed over 7,000 hectares of crops, county authorities said.