Natural disasters claimed seven lives and led to 3.83 billion yuan (about 624 mln U.S. dollars) of economic losses in January, according to government statistics. Disasters last month, mainly earthquakes, cold weather and snowstorms, affected more than 4 million people across the country, statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the National Commission for Disaster Reduction showed. A total of 360,000 houses were damaged in two 5.0-magnitude earthquakes in Sichuan and Xinjiang respectively in January. Drought, floods, hail, landslides and forest fires were also seen in the month, Xinhua reported.
