TRACING HISTORY: Visitors observe an exhibit on the former Soviet Union's Great Patriotic War (1941-45) at an exhibition that opened in Beijing on July 7. The event is to mark the 65th anniversary of the victory over Fascism (LUO XIAOGUANG)

Flood Relief

China's Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Civil Affairs on July 6 jointly sent 377 million yuan ($55.4 million) to four southern provinces that have been recently battered by rainstorms and consequent floods.

The funds will be mainly used for the evacuation and resettlement of affected people and the rebuilding of damaged houses in the provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi and Hunan, said a statement by the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Figures from the ministry show that around 260 people have been killed and 211 remain missing in 11 provinces since rainstorms hit south China on June 13.

More than 3.8 million people were evacuated from flooded areas and relocated. Around 312,000 homes were destroyed and the floods resulted in direct economic losses reaching 64.57 billion yuan ($9.5 billion).

As of July 6, the two ministries had allocated a total of 867 million yuan ($127.5 million) to eight southern provinces and autonomous regions for flood relief.

Population Projection

The population of China is expected to reach 1.39 billion by the end of 2015, with those aged 60 or over topping 200 million, said Li Bin, head of the country's top population policy agency.

Li, Director of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, released these estimates at a conference in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, on July 3.

The urban population is projected to be more than 700 million over the next five years, for the first time exceeding the rural population, according to Li.

She said the increase over the next five years will be based upon the nation's population momentum, which will begin to decline after 2015.

Population momentum is the tendency of a highly fertile population that has been rapidly increasing in size to continue to do so for decades after the onset of even a substantial decline in fertility.

Heat Wave

China's Ministry of Health issued a circular on July 7 advising the nation's medical facilities to gear up for a rise in the number of people suffering from heat-stroke and other heat related ailments given the recent high temperatures.

The National Meteorological Center raised the heat alert to orange on July 6, one step before the highest level, and said at least 16 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities were enduring extreme heat.

In Beijing, the temperature shot up to 40.6 degrees Celsius on July 5, breaking historical record.

The heat wave has brought the country's daily electricity generation to its highest level ever, touching 12.93 billion kwh on July 5.

Fewer Accidents

People killed in road traffic accidents in China declined from 94,000 in 2004 to 67,000 in 2009, a decrease of 30 percent, an official with the China Automotive Technology Research Center (CATRC) said on July 6.

Road traffic accidents fell by 50 percent from 2004 to 670,000 in 2009, as China moved to ban overloaded vehicles and stop drunk driving, Zhao Hang, Director of the CATRC, told a forum on road transportation safety.

The traffic accident death toll in China has decreased year by year, but it is still much higher than that in the developed countries.