Natural disasters, mainly drought, wind hail, landslides and earthquakes, caused 18 deaths and left one missing in March, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said in Beijing on Friday.

All the deaths and the missing person were caused by nine landslides in the central Hubei and Hunan, southwestern Sichuan, Guizhou and northwestern Gansu and Qinghai provinces.

The disasters last month, which affected 974,000 people and 3.9 million hectares of crops, resulted in 1.29 billion yuan (US$180 million) of economic losses, the ministry said.

About 104,000 people were relocated by the government. More than 12,000 houses collapsed, it said, adding the situation was less serious than the same period last year.

Six earthquakes took place in Xinjiang, Sichuan, Henan, Hebei, Hubei and Gansu, four of which measured above 4 on the Richter scale. On March 21, a strong quake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale hit Hotan in northwestern Xinjiang.

(Xinhua News Agency April 12, 2008)