East China's Anhui Province has allocated 1.5 million yuan (US$197,000) and relief supplies to tornado-hit Tianchang City where seven people were killed and 98 others injured.

More than 1,000 kg of rice, 200 quilts, 100 kg of edible oil and 108 tents in addition to instant noodles and bottled water have been sent to the city, where a tornado packing winds of 100 km per hour destroyed more than 1,000 houses and forced the evacuation of at least 3,300 people in three villages Tuesday afternoon.

The disaster has caused up to 29 million yuan of direct economic losses, a spokesman with the Anhui provincial disaster relief office said on Thursday.

The bodies of seven people aged between nine and 80 -- three from Renhe Town and four from Qinlan Town -- were found in the debris of collapsed buildings.

All the injured villagers were being treated in local hospitals. Of the 26 seriously injured people, a woman in her seventies is still in a critical condition, according to doctors.

(Xinhua News Agency July 6, 2007)