Insurers are facing hundreds-of-millions-of-yuan in damage claims after torrential rain flooded the Yangtze River and Huaihe River valleys this summer, a spokesman of China's insurance watchdog said in Beijing today.

Domestic insurers have received 13,000 cases, totaling 680 million yuan (US$90 million), from flood-hit areas including Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hubei, Hunan and Sichuan, said Yuan Li, a Chinese Insurance Regulatory Commission spokesman.

Insurers have paid out 20.34 million yuan for 3,200 cases thus far. The remaining cases are still being processed, Yuan said.

The number of cases will rise as the peak flood period hasn't passed, and the commission will urge insurance companies to cope with the payments, he said.

In China, compensation from insurers often accounts for only five percent of the total loss caused by disasters, while insurers in developed countries pay about 30 percent to 40 percent of loss, Yuan said.

"Our media should promote the benefits of insurance to raise public awareness and disperse the risks," he said.

By July 16, the death toll from natural disasters around the country was 715 this year and 129 people were still missing, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said last Thursday.