国内英语新闻:China launches emergency response to SW floods

BEIJING, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- China's central authorities initiated a level-four emergency plan on Sunday afternoon in response to severe flooding in southwest China's Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality.

The National Commission for Disaster Reduction and the Ministry of Civil Affairs have dispatched teams to help with the relief work.

Chongqing's municipal civil affairs authorities reported that over one million people in Chongqing have been affected by the disaster since Aug. 30. That includes one death, and some 149,000 have been evacuated or are in dire need of life assistance.

The flood had also caused the collapse of some 1,200 houses, damage to another 4,700, and 450 million yuan in direct economic losses (70.87 million U.S. dollars).

According to the Sichuan provincial civil affairs authority, the flood had had an impact on 1.583 million local people, left 12 dead and 15 missing. Some 174,000 had either been evacuated or in need of life assistance.

Also, a total of 16,000 houses in the province were toppled and 28,900 hectares of cropland damaged, resulting in direct economic losses of about 920 million yuan (144.9 million U.S.dollars).

Civil affairs authorities from both areas have acted to dispatch relief teams to the ground and distribute tents, quilts and other relief materials.