(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-02-01 15:41

BEIJING - The sweeping snow that hit China's central and southern regions over the past two weeks has inflicted economic losses of about 53.9 billion yuan (US$7.5 billion), a senior official with the Ministry of Civil Affairs said at a press conference on Friday.

The worst snow in five decades has so far killed 60 and forced nearly 1.759 million people to relocate. Nineteen provincial areas and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corp incurred losses in the disaster that toppled 223,000 houses and damaged another 862,000, said Zou Ming, an official with the ministry.