China is now the third hardest-hit country in the
world in terms of economic losses sustained from natural disasters,
the civil affairs minister said in Beijing yesterday, the UN
International Day for Disaster Reduction.
"In the past decade, China has gone up to third
ranking, after Japan and the US, in terms of disaster-induced
losses," said Li Xueju, adding that economic losses caused by
disasters in the country exceeded two trillion yuan (US$247
billion).
This year in China, 1,796 lives have also been lost
and 15.16 million people displaced due to natural disasters, while
economic losses have reached 183.9 billion yuan (US$23 billion),
according to Li.
The past?12 months have seen the massive
Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami as well as drought and locust
damage in Africa, devastation from hurricanes and cyclones in the
US, the Caribbean and Pacific as well as the most recent
earthquakes in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan.
The ministry said it has launched a series of
activities ranging from emergency drills to disaster reduction
education programs in an effort to enhance awareness.
The theme of this year's International Day for
Disaster Reduction was "Invest to prevent disaster" and it aimed to
launch a global debate on how microfinance could reduce the impact
of natural disasters on vulnerable communities.
(Xinhua News Agency October 13, 2005)