Vice Premier Hui Liangyu on Friday called for greater efforts to combat the effects of increasing extreme weather conditions in the country.

Extreme weather conditions have been plaguing larger swathes of the country over the past couple of years, Hui told a flood control and drought relief meeting in Beijing.

The local governments should step up efforts to build more flood control projects on major rivers and to reinforce reservoirs that have safety problems, he said.

The vice premier also called to improve prevention efforts for typhoons, flash floods, and landslides and to build more water conservation facilities for agriculture.

So far this year, floods have affected 180 million people in 31regions including Chongqing, Henan and Anhui, with 1,203 people killed, according to figures from the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

Figures showed flash floods and mudslides are responsible for more than 70 percent of the death toll.

The floods this year also ruined 12 million hectares of crops and destroyed more than one million houses, leading to direct economic loss of 107.1 billion yuan (US$14.5 billion).

(Xinhua News Agency December 8, 2007)