Natural disasters affect over 7 million people in Yunnan in Q2

KUNMING - Over 7.4 million people in southwest China's Yunnan Province were affected by natural disasters, especially droughts, in the second quarter of 2019, according to the provincial emergency department Monday.

Nine people died due to the disasters in Q2 and severe droughts have affected nearly 7 million people and inflicted damage on over 1,350 hectares of crops so far this year.

Yunnan saw frequent droughts, floods and geological hazards in Q2, which led to higher direct economic losses and greatly damaged crop yields compared with the same periods over the past five years, said Xiao Liming with Yunnan's emergency control and drought relief department.

As of June, the province has pumped in 970 million yuan (141 million U.S. dollars) in drought-relief funds, with about 1.52 million people mobilized against the drought.