Floods, droughts, typhoons, earthquakes and other natural disasters claimed 2,250 lives in China last year, according to a natural meeting on disaster relief that ended in Fuzhou, capital of east China's Fujian Province, Sunday.

Jia Zhibang, vice minister of civil affairs, said at the two-day the meeting that various disasters flattened 1.55 million houses and affected 37.106 million hectares of crops, 4.36 million hectares of which were completely destroyed.

Natural disasters also damaged large amounts of public infrastructure facilities and industrial facilities, causing losses up to 160.23 billion yuan (19.37 billion US dollars) in the country last year, Jia said.

The government is considering setting up an round-the-clock disaster monitoring mechanism, and efforts will be made to improve the disaster relief mechanism to reduce damages and economic losses caused by natural disasters, according to him.

A national communications network linking disaster relief organizations of provincial, prefectural and county levels will be set up to guarantee timely and accurate forecasts and reports of disasters, he added.

The official also called on local governments to establish and improve emergency disaster relief systems and to set up effective systems to supply and transport relief funds and materials to disaster-affected areas within 24 hours.

Source: Xinhua