Geological disasters have claimed an average of over 1,000 lives and 10 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) worth of economic losses in China per year, said sources from the Ministry of Land and Resources.

Vice Minister Shou Jiahua told a press conference here on Thursday that the geological disaster had become one of the severest disasters causing the most deaths and injuries in China.

Rockfall, landslides and mudflows had occurred in 44.8 percent of the land in China and the situation in southeast China and northwest China was particularly serious, Shou said.

According to the ministry's statistics, ground subsidence is found to cover 40 large and medium sized cities across China, including Shanghai, Tianjin, Suzhou and Wuxi.

"Though ground subsidence does not directly cause casualties, it may lead to tremendous economic losses as it mainly occurs in economically more developed cities," Shou said.

The official blamed over-extraction of underground water mainly for ground subsidence in these cities.

Related departments have also detected 400 cases of ground cracks in 17 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, which cover 200 cities and counties.

Meanwhile, China has successfully predicted over 1,000 geological disasters since 1998, which helped avoid at least 30,000 casualties and billions of economic losses in RMB, the vice minister said.

(Xinhua News Agency February 26, 2004)