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A disaster relief official from the Ministry of Civil Affairs has denied that China attempts to cover up the true number of casualties resulting from natural disasters.

"To cover up casualties from natural disasters is both unnecessary and futile," Xinhua News Agency quoted Wang Zhenyao, director of the ministry's Disaster Relief Department, as saying on Thursday.

Wang said China lifted a ban on reporting disaster casualties long ago and the central government had repeatedly urged local authorities to honestly report disaster casualties. He said that a ministry document issued last year stated that natural disaster death tolls should no longer be regarded as State secrets.

"Local officials don't have to lie about death tolls from natural disasters as they don't bring them liabilities in the way that coal mine accidents do," Wang said.

"And given the role played by victims' relatives, local residents and the media, it is almost impossible to cover up death tolls," Wang said.

He admitted, however, that local governments needed to improve how they announce such information to the public.

In some areas, Wang said that this information is released in an ambiguous way, leading to confusion about the precise number of casualties.

He said that poor communications and a growing migrant population meant it was difficult to come up with accurate casualty figures in the wake of disasters.

Wang hoped people would allow the authorities some time to check casualty figures, noting that the priority after a disaster is to ensure the welfare of the survivors.

China's death toll from Typhoon Saomai has risen to 436, after the discovery of six more bodies in Fuding, in the southeastern coastal province of Fujian, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Local government officials pulled the bodies from the sea, bringing the number of bodies recovered from the waters off Shacheng Harbour to 186.

(China Daily August 19, 2006)