Donations for flood-stricken Henan exceed 8.5 bln yuan

ZHENGZHOU, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- A total of 8.588 billion yuan (1.3 billion U.S. dollars) in donations has been received by charitable organizations and Red Cross societies at all levels in central China's Henan Province since torrential rains hit the province in July.

Flood-control and disaster-relief activity saw the participation of 192 social-work agencies, with 7,580 social workers and 282,000 volunteers serving 652,000 flood-affected people.

Henan was hit by torrential rains starting on July 16, with the death toll from floods reaching 302 as of last Monday, while another 50 people remain missing.

More than 14.81 million people in 150 county-level regions were affected by the downpours. About 1.08 million hectares of crops were damaged, and over 35,300 houses collapsed across the province, with a direct economic loss of over 133.7 billion yuan, official data shows.

Henan has earmarked over 9 billion yuan for disaster relief, according to the provincial emergency management bureau.