BEIJING - As of Tuesday, natural disasters this year had left 1,081 people dead or missing in China, Civil Affairs Minister Li Liguo said Friday.

This year the central government has appropriated 8.64 billion yuan ($1.37 billion) as relief funds to help the country's 75 million people affected by disasters, Li said in his annual work report at a national work conference on civil affairs.

Various natural disasters in China have affected 440 million people and created over 311 billion yuan in direct economic losses, Li said.

Li said that Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces have finished the construction of 1.91 million houses as well as the repair work on 2.92 million houses for people whose homes were destroyed in the devastating magnitude-8.0 Wenchuan earthquake in May 2008. All the residents in the three provinces that had been uprooted by the earthquake have been moved into new homes.

Also in his report, Li said civil affairs authorities at all levels nationwide had allocated 146 billion yuan in 2011 to effectively ensure basic lives for more than 81 million people in poverty.

Moreover, the sum of per capita monthly living allowances for the country's low-income groups in urban and rural areas has been lifted by 10 percent and 15 percent, respectively, on a year-on-year basis.

Furthermore, a system to provide subsidies for the country's senior citizens has been established in 15 provincial-level regions across the country, covering 9 million people, Li said, adding that the government has also invested over 3.7 billion yuan in the country's elderly care services this year.