Natural disasters took less of a toll in China in November as the number of deaths dropped to 11, drastically down from the average of 194 recorded in the first nine months, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

However, more than 58,000 people were affected by natural disasters, including drought, floods, landslides, cold weather and heavy snow, the ministry said Tuesday.

About 1,000 houses collapsed and another 1,000 were damaged, and nearly 18.2 million mu (about 1.21 million hectares) of farmland was affected.

The total direct losses amounted to 20 million yuan (about 2.67 million U.S. dollars), according to the ministry.

South China, especially parts of provinces including Hubei, Jiangxi, Hunan and Guizhou, suffered from severe drought.

Landslides in China's Guizhou, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan left 11 people dead.

Other places, including parts of southwest China's Yunnan Province and northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, suffered from cold weather and heavy snow.

China began to witness a sharp drop in the number of deaths caused by natural disasters in October, with a toll of 34.

This year, China has gone through many abnormal extreme weather conditions. Natural disasters had claimed 1,753 lives by September, with 296 missing.

As of September, the central government had allocated 9.35 billion yuan in relief to disaster-affected areas, of which 3.5 billion yuan was for living subsidies.

The Red Cross Society of China has also delivered 150 million yuan worth of funding and materials to disaster-stricken areas.

(Xinhua News Agency December 5, 2007)