HANOI, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Landslides and floods triggered by heavy rain over the past four days in Vietnam's northern and central regions have left 37 local people dead and 40 others missing, the country's Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control said on Thursday.

They have also injured 21 local people, inundated over 16,700 houses, damaged two dikes, more than 39,300 hectares of crops, killed or swept away nearly 1,200 cattle and roughly 40,000 fowls, and caused landslides along many national roads.

The 37 dead people included 11 people in northern Hoa Binh province, eight in central Nghe An province and central Thanh Hoa province each, five in northern Son La province, four in northern Yen Bai province, and one in Hanoi capital city.

The 40 missing people are from Son La, Yen Bai, Hoa Binh, Thanh Hoa and central Quang Tri province.

In Hoa Binh's Tan Lac district, a landslide on Thursday early morning buried four houses in which there were 18 local people. Eight bodies have been recovered, and rescuers have been searching for the missing, said the committee.

In the first nine months of this year, natural disasters in Vietnam killed or left missing 169 local people, injured 232 others, damaged 236,800 houses and inundated 45,400 hectares of crops, causing property losses of over 21.5 trillion Vietnamese dong (952 million U.S. dollars), according to the country's General Statistics Office.