Natural disasters have destroyed some 820,000 houses and damaged another 3.31 million in China so far this year, posing great difficulties for reconstruction work, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

"The northern part of the country has already entered winter and temperatures in the south are dropping sharply, which makes our rebuilding work more urgent," Vice Minister of Civil Affairs Luo Pingfei said yesterday at a meeting on living conditions for disaster-affected people.

According to Luo, reconstruction efforts should mainly be conducted by local residents with financial support, although local governments should be responsible for helping with expenses and construction logistics.

Luo urged local civil affairs departments to draw up lists of houses for rebuilding and ensure proper living conditions for homeless people before their new homes are ready.

Luo also urged local governments to strictly follow relevant laws and regulations when managing disaster relief funds, asking them to publicize how the money is used.

Figures show that the ministries of finance and civil affairs have allocated 3.6 billion yuan (US$570 million) in disaster relief so far in 2011.

Luo said central government will allocate more funds for winter and spring - much higher than last year's sum.

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