Natural Disasters Kill 157 in May

Natural disasters, mainly floods, hailstorms and droughts, left 157 people dead and 29 missing across China in May, according to official figures released Thursday.

A total of 38.25 million people nationwide were affected by natural disasters last month, which caused a direct economic loss of nearly 28 billion yuan (4.4 billion U.S. dollars), said an evaluation report issued by the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

It said the natural disasters also severely damaged around 133,000 homes, forced the emergency relocation of 296,000 people and damaged 3.29 million hectares of farmland.