Relief funds and materials worth more than 13.37 million yuan (US$1.75 million) have been allocated to flood-stricken Sichuan Province in southwest China.

The aid included 10 million yuan, tents and other relief supplies from local governments and disaster-relief departments, according to the Disaster Relief Office of the provincial government.

The China Red Cross Society and its Jiangsu Province branch donated computers, televisions, quilts and disinfectant worth 1.37 million yuan to assist relief efforts.

Two Chinese companies donated two million yuan and 55 laptops to the province, where at least 15 people are dead and two are missing after a series of rain-triggered disasters over the past week.

Ten cities were hit by floods, mudflows and landslides since heavy rains started to deluge the region on June 15. About 127,000 people in the province had been relocated. The direct losses stood at 326 million yuan (US$42 million), according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

In the worst-hit Dazhou City alone, at least ten people were killed, with 64 injured and about 2.3 million people in 132 counties and townships affected.

Heavy rains swept across Chongqing Municipality, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces and the central Hubei Province over the past week, leaving at least 38 people dead and 15 others missing.

About 9.4 million people have been affected and 337,000 relocated as a result of the disaster, which incurred losses of 1.45 billion yuan (US$190 million).

(Xinhua News Agency June 22, 2007)