China's Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Civil Affairs on Tuesday jointly sent 377 million yuan (55.2 million U.S. dollars) to four southern provinces which had been battered by rainstorms and consequent floods.

Villagers help rescuers to cross river in Shunchang, a county of southeast China's Fujian Province, June 26, 2010. More than 4 million residents of Fujian Province were affected by flood which caused 78 dead and 79 missing till June 27.[Xinhua]

The funds will be mainly used for the evacuation and resettlement of affected local people and the rebuilding of damaged houses in the provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi and Hunan, said a statement released Tuesday by the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Figures from the ministry show that around 260 people have been killed and 211 left missing in 11 provinces since rainstorms hit south China on June 13.

More than 3.8 million people were evacuated and relocated due to floodwater, which also destroyed 312,000 homes and resulted in direct economic losses reaching 64.57 billion yuan (about 9.49 billion U.S. dollars).

As of Tuesday, the two ministries have allocated a total of 867 million yuan for eight southern provinces and autonomous regions for flood relief.