China allocates funds for disaster relief work

BEIJING, July 6 -- China's Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Emergency Management on Saturday allocated 540 million yuan (about 75.75 million U.S. dollars) of funds to support local governments in disaster relief work related to floods, geological disasters and forest fires.

Specifically, 503 million yuan will go into supporting flood and geological disaster responses such as search, rescue and relocation of affected residents in nine provincial-level regions including Hunan, Anhui and Jiangxi, while 37 million yuan will be allocated for forest fire response in Inner Mongolia and Shanxi, according to the Ministry of Finance.

The National Meteorological Center on Saturday issued a blue alert for rainstorms as heavy downpours are expected to lash parts of the country.

From Saturday morning to 8 a.m. Sunday, heavy rains are forecast to hit some provincial-level regions in northeast, northwest, central, east and southwest China, including Jilin, Shaanxi, Shandong, Anhui and Henan, the meteorological center said.

Some of these regions may experience heavy rainfall with maximum hourly precipitation exceeding 60 millimeters, accompanied by thunderstorms and gales, according to the center.

China has a four-tier, color-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe warning, followed by orange, yellow and blue.