Natural disasters kill 8 in January

Natural disasters across China in January killed eight people and injured another nine, rendering direct economic losses of 670 million yuan (110.48 million US dollars), according to official figures.

Disasters affected more than two million people and forced the relocation of 3,000, said a statement jointly released on Sunday by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the National Commission for Disaster Reduction.

More than 10,000 houses were damaged. Disasters also affected 201,200 hectares of farmland, with total crop failure on 6,200 hectares, according to the statement.

Natural disasters last month were mainly droughts, bitter coldness, snowstorms, earthquakes and forest fires. The overall damages were lighter than those from the same period last year.

Six earthquakes measuring greater than 4 on the Richter scale occurred in January, it added.