Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu has called on local governments to make the safety of the people their priority when fighting floods.

Hui, director of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, made the call during his tour to visit flood-affected people and armed forces dispatched to fight floods in Anhui Province and Hubei Province.

"We have entered a critical period in the fight against floods," he said.

He urged local governments to take tangible efforts to fight flooding through scientific means and water resources committees in charge of different sections of major rivers to cooperate with each other, aiming to keep losses to a minimum.

During Hui's visit to a relocation camp for people in Zhongxiang County of Hubei Province on July 6, he told local officials to try every possible means to provide people with enough food, water, clothing and timely medical services.

He also encouraged people to resume production and rebuild their own homes.

Continuous rain has triggered floods, landslides and hailstorms in China's southwest Sichuan province, central Hubei and Henan provinces, northwest Shaanxi province, and east Anhui and Jiangsu.

About 14.2 million people have been affected and 346,500 people had been relocated by Friday afternoon. About 32,300 houses have collapsed and another 176,200 have been damaged, according to statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

(Xinhua News Agency July 9, 2007)