Beijing, Sha'ban 11, 1435, Jun 9, 2014, SPA -- Natural disasters across China claimed 126 lives in May, with another six people missing, authorities said on Monday. The Ministry of Civil Affairs and the National Commission for Disaster Reduction said in a report that 21.8 million people were affected by disasters and 777,000 people were forced to relocate last month. About 54,000 houses were destroyed and 323,000 homes were damaged. Disasters damaged over 2.4 million hectares of farmland and caused direct economic losses of 25.64 billion yuan (4.17 billion U.S. dollars). Floods and earthquakes were the main natural disasters hitting the country in May, while droughts, hailstorms, icy weather, snowstorms, landslides and forest fires also occurred, Xinhua quoted the report as saying. --SPA 19:37 LOCAL TIME 16:37 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w