HO CHI MINH CITY, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) — Natural disasters, especially three storms, between January and August in Vietnam left 90 people dead or missing, and injured 223 others, the country's Agriculture and Rural Development said Thursday.

The disasters also destroyed over 1,600 houses, damaged 81,800 others; seriously damaged 200,300 hectares of paddy rice, 49,700 hectares of other crops, and 18,800 hectares of aquaculture ponds; and killed 36,000 cattle, 198,000 fowls and over 854 tons of seafood.

In the first eight months of this year, 243,500 households with over 1 million people suffered from between-crop hunger, up 14 percent against the same period last year, said the ministry. Meanwhile, they were given 16,000 tons of food and some 600 million Vietnamese dong (27,000 U.S. dollars) for assistance.