$1.6m earmarked for SW China disaster management

BEIJING - The Ministry of Finance said Tuesday that it has allocated 1 billion yuan (about $161 million) for geological disaster management in southwest China's Yunnan province.

The fund will be used for the management of major geological disasters in Yunnan, including the monitoring and assessment of disasters, relocation efforts and the construction of an emergency response system, according to the ministry.

Starting from this year, the ministry will allocate 1 billion yuan each year for eight consecutive years to fund the construction of a comprehensive system for managing geological disasters.

The province has complicated geological conditions and is frequently hit by geological disasters, such as earthquakes, landslides and mudslides.

In 2009, the central government set up a special fund for disaster prevention and management and had since granted a total of 745 million yuan to Yunnan by the end of 2012.