A farmer passes a construction site where houses are being built for displaced villagers in Ankang, Shanxi, Feb 22, 2011. [Deng Xiaowei/China Daily]

XI'AN - Peng Shiyun, a farmer from Qiyan village in Ankang, Shaanxi province, moved with her fellow villagers to her new home this month.

Peng's village, which lies in a deep valley in the midst of mountains, was seriously damaged in a flood and landside on the night of July 18, 2010. Twenty-nine villagers were killed in the disaster or were missing afterward.

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"The 64 families, including mine, have been moved to new houses built outside of the mountains," Peng said. "They have safer and better living conditions, and I hope the project will benefit more people."

She said she felt glad when she learned provincial authorities had announced plans on Friday to give 240,000 people better living conditions by moving them this year.

After the disaster, officials and experts went to the mountainous village to conduct an investigation. The results of their work suggested the farmers would only be able to live in safety if they moved.

To rebuild the village, the provincial government set aside an area of about 1 sq km in a plain lying within the boundaries of Ankang city. Houses for the Qiyan villagers began to be built in September 2010 and were completed by the end of April, when Peng and those living in another 63 households moved into their new houses.

Like these villagers, some 2.4 million people were living in areas in southern Shaanxi that are prone to natural disasters. To give them safe and better living conditions, the provincial government decided to move them to other places within the province in the next 10 years.

On Friday, a groundbreaking ceremony for the resettlement project was held in Ankang city. In the next 10 years, 2.4 million people are to be moved out of dangerous places within Hanzhong, Ankang and Shangluo cities, according to Wang Dengji, director of the provincial land and resources department.

The resettlement plan will cause 2.4 million people in 28 counties of the three cities to move from their hometowns. That number makes up 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 project is expected to cost more than 110 billion yuan ($16.9 billion), most of which will come from the government, according to the plan.

The resettled farmers are also to receive new houses, built either by the government or by themselves with the use of 30,000 yuan the government is to give each family. An additional 10,000 yuan will go to those who are in especial need of it.

Besides the houses, the farmers will be given arable land they can use to feed themselves, Wang said.

Shaanxi is vulnerable to mud-rock flows, landslides, flooding and other natural disasters. In July 2010, some 300 people in the province were killed or disappeared in disasters caused by rains.

Xinhua contributed to this story.