Natural disasters had killed 65 Chinese people by June 4 this year, the Office of the State Flood Control and Draught Relief Headquarters said on Tuesday.

A total of 10 million people and 514,650 hectares of crops were affected by the disasters, said Zhang Zhitong, deputy chief of the office, adding that the country's major rivers see calm flow at present.

According to the office, frequent rainstorms hit Chongqing city and provinces of Hubei, Guangdong, Jiangxi and Anhui in May. The branches of Jinsha River in southwestern Yunnan Province and Ganjiang River in central Jiangxi Province saw their water level exceed the warning lines.

The rainstorms caused flood and landslides in these regions while the northern areas suffered severe drought as a result of high temperature and lack of rainfall, said Zhang.

By May 31, 10.32 million people and 10.26 million livestocks had suffered temporary drinking water shortage and 10.7 million hectares of arable land were affected by the drought, according statistics with the office.

Zhang said his office strengthened inspections on flood control work and other state organs, including ministries of finance, communications, health and land resources, also organized special inspection teams.

He said by May 30 the central government had allocated 280 million yuan (US$36.4 million) to subsidize the fight against severe flood and drought.

(Xinhua News Agency June 6, 2007)