BEIJING, Dec. 4 -- China's emergency management and finance authorities have jointly allocated central natural disaster relief funds to support local relief work for people affected by natural disasters this year.

About 4.85 billion yuan (about 682.99 million U.S. dollars) has been issued to help those affected by the disasters to deal with living difficulties during the winter and spring seasons, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management.

Local governments are required to strengthen the supervision of relief funds and ensure that financial support is distributed in a timely manner in accordance with policies and regulations.

This year, some provinces, including those in northeast and north China, suffered serious natural disasters. The finance and emergency ministries have sent a number of work teams to evaluate local needs for assistance and released the funds significantly earlier than in previous years.