Nearly 130 million people were affected by natural disasters in August in China.

Droughts, typhoons and floods left 661 people dead and 168 missing last month, according to the figures released by the State Disaster Relief Commission.

A total of 3.119 million residents were evacuated during the disasters, which also caused economic losses of 61.39 billion yuan (US$7.67 billion).

Severe typhoons like Prapiroon and Saomai hit seven provinces and regions, causing landslides in which 538 people were killed - 146 are still missing.

Rare droughts were suffered by southwest China's Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality, causing water shortages for 19 million residents and 19.5 billion yuan (US$2.43 billion) in economic losses.

Floods and landslides occurred in 17 provinces and regions in August, but no entire drainage areas were affected, said the commission.

Eight earthquakes measuring above 4.0 on the Richter Scale also jolted the mainland last month, of which the quake in Yunnan Province on August 25 measuring 5.1 killed two people.

(Xinhua News Agency September 7, 2006)