Natural disasters cost China $13bn in January-June

This is the deepest first-half disaster-related loss since 2019, according to data available on the country’s Emergency Management Ministry website

People move their belongings with makeshift rafts at a flooded bamboo and wood market in Chongqing, China Jul 13, 2018. REUTERS

China suffered a direct economic loss worth 93.16 billion yuan ($12.83 billion) in the first half of this year due to natural disasters, the government said on Friday.

This is the deepest first-half disaster-related loss since 2019, according to data available on the Emergency Management Ministry website, as the country suffered flooding, drought and extreme temperature in the first six months of the year.

China saw cold spells and heavy snow earlier in the year, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, landslides in southwestern regions and flooding on the Yellow River and in southern provinces this year.

At least 32.38 million people were affected due to natural disasters during January-June, including the disappearance or death of 322 people.

About 856,000 faced emergency resettlement and 23,000 houses were destroyed, while around 3.17 million hectares of crops were affected.

The impact on the economy was worse than the year-earlier period, when the country logged 38.23 billion yuan worth of loss and 95 people went missing or died.

For all of 2023, about 48.76 million people were affected due to natural disasters, according to the ministry's report from last year.

Funds channelled into disaster management have reached 4.17 billion yuan so far this year, according to a Reuters tally, with 546 million yuan allocated last month for agricultural production and disaster relief.