XI'AN - Northwest China's Shaanxi province will resettle 240,000 people this year from natural disaster-prone areas to other parts of the province to help them lead a better life, said local authorities.

This is the first stage of the province's ten-year plan that aims to relocate 2.4 million people from natural disaster-prone and less-developed mountainous areas, especially in Hanzhong, Ankang and Shangluo cities in southern Shaanxi, said Wang Dengji, head of the provincial land and resources department.

The construction of the first batch of resettlement projects will kick off at the end of May, Wang said.

From 2011 to 2020, more than 2.4 million people in 28 counties in the three cities will leave their hometown, accounting for 26.4 percent of the total population in southern Shaanxi, according to a resettlement plan formulated by the provincial land and resources department in 2010.

The resettlement program is expected to cost more than 110 billion yuan (about $16.9 billion), most of which will be funded by the government, according to the plan.

The resettled families will have a new home built either by the government or by themselves. The government will offer a subsidy of 30,000 yuan to each family, and an additional 10,000 yuan to needy ones, says the plan.

The resettled rural families will be provided with arable land to feed themselves, it says.

Shaanxi is vulnerable to natural disasters, including mud-rock flows, landslides and flooding. In July 2010, nearly 300 people were killed or missing in rain-triggered disasters in Shaanxi.