Students are guided to conduct an emergency evacuation drill in Huaibei, East China's Anhui Province on May 10, 2023, two days ahead of China's Disaster Prevention and Reduction Day. Photo: VCG

China's natural disasters including floods, typhoons and geological disasters have affected more than 16 million people, with 147 people dead or missing, and the direct economic losses amounted to 41.18 billion yuan ($5.74 billion) in July, the worst this year, according to China's Ministry of Emergency Management on Friday.

In July, flooding, typhoons, geological disaster and drought were the main natural disasters in China, meanwhile other kinds of natural disasters including  hail, earthquakes, sand-dust storm and forest fire also occurred to  different degrees, the ministry said.

A total of 703,000 people were evacuated and relocated when the natural disasters occurred, with 4,300 houses collapsing  in July. Natural disasters hit 3.13 million hectares of crops, according to the ministry.

In terms of economic damage, July was the worst month for disaster losses this year, with East China’s Fujian, Southwest China’s Chongqing, North China’s Beijing, Hebei Province and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region among the worst-hit provinces and municipalities.

In July, there were seven heavy rainfalls in the country, and the cumulative rainfall was 119 millimeters, which was basically the same as the same period of the previous years.

Affected by super typhoon Doksuri, extreme rainfall occurred in northern China, Huanghuai and other regions, and multiple flood storage areas in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei were put into use. The water level of other major rivers in China is lower than that of the same period of the previous years, with 262 rivers experiencing floods above the warning level, according to authorities.

More than 7.03 million people were affected by floods and geological disasters, with 142 people dead or missing, leading more than 2,300 houses collapsing and  direct economic loss reaching 15.78 billion yuan.

In July, a total of three typhoons  formed in the northwest Pacific Ocean and  South China Sea, with two making landfall in China. 

Typhoon Talim made landfall twice on July 17 and 18 in Zhanjiang, South China’s Guangdong Province, and Beihai, South China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is the first typhoon to make landfall in our country this year, and the disaster affected over 1.12 million people in Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan and caused direct economic losses of 2.61 billion yuan.

Typhoon Doksuri, the fifth typhoon of the year, affected 2.91 million people in Fujian, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Guangdong and other places to different degrees, with direct economic losses reaching 14.74 billion yuan.

Drought across North  and Northeast China has eased due to rainfall, while  drought in central and western Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region continues. In early July, the drought was severe in parts of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Hebei and Liaoning provinces. At the peak of the drought in mid-July, over 4.31 million people and 1.64 million hectares of crops were affected, according to the ministry.

Northeast China, North China and other parts of the country suffered from extreme weather, with regions affected by hailstorms in July causing five deaths. 

There was no earthquake of magnitude 5 or above recorded in the Chinese mainland in July, however there were 21 forest fires across the country, mostly caused by lightning strikes, mainly in Heilongjiang and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.