(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-02-02 19:19

BEIJING -- Disastrous winter weather has caused losses of 16.2 billion yuan (2.25 billion US dollars) in China's forestry sector, Cao Qingyao, spokesman of the State Forestry Administration (SFA), said here on Saturday.

By January 31, a total of 2.49 million forest workers and residents of 14 provincial regions had been affected and some 120,000 houses were wrecked or collapsed, he said. The weather had also damaged 5.46 million hectares of bamboo, 5.18 million ha of forest and 36,700 ha of seedlings.

Cao said that the administration had allocated 4.3 million yuan to aid 39,000 households that were worst hit by the disaster in Hunan, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangxi, Guizhou and Guangxi.

The severe weather of the past three weeks could persist until February 8 or 9, according to the latest forecasts from the Central Meteorological Station on Saturday.

Total losses to the economy had so far amounted to about 53.9 billion yuan, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said on Friday. It said that the snow had killed at least 60 people and forced nearly 1.759 million people to relocate.