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China earthquake death toll rises to 65,080
2008-05-27 00:00

 

Professionals and materials are airdropped for operations to blow a barrier lake at Tangjiashan, Beichuan County, which was formed by landslides after the May 12 earthquake and now blocks the river Jianhe.(Xinhua Photo)

BEIJING, May 26 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from China's May 12 earthquake rose by 4,520 to reach 65,080 as of Monday noon, according to the Information Office of the State Council.

The casualty figures included 360,058 injured and 23,150 missing in the 8.0-magnitude quake that was centered on the southwestern Sichuan Province.

About 14.38 million people have been relocated from quake-affected areas, according to the office.

As of Monday noon, 182 aftershocks measuring four or above on the Richter scale had been monitored in Sichuan, according to the China Seismological Bureau, including 28 aftershocks measuring above magnitude five, and five above magnitude six.

The most recent strong aftershock was magnitude 6.4 on Sunday afternoon, centered on Qingchuan County in north Sichuan, which left at least eight people dead and more than 900 injured.

Hospitals have treated 83,527 injured people, of whom, 53,247 have been discharged, 17,168 still remain in hospital and 5,914 were transferred to other parts of China for treatment.

As of Sunday, disaster relief workers had relocated 666,331 people to safe areas, and dug 6,537 survivors out of quake ruins.

The government relief fund for the earthquake-stricken areas hit 16.6 billion yuan (2.37 billion U.S. dollars) as of 2 p.m. on Monday, up 1.5 billion yuan from the previous day, according to the office.

The fund included 12.56 billion yuan from the central budget and 4.06 billion yuan from local budget, the office said.

Domestic and foreign donations for earthquake survivors had reached 30.9 billion yuan (4.4 billion U.S. dollars) as of Friday noon, up 1.8 billion yuan from the previous day, it said.

So far, 9 billion yuan, in cash and relief materials, had been forwarded to the earthquake-affected areas, the office said.

Meanwhile, almost 500,000 tents had been delivered to quake-affected areas, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Also, more than 3.09 million quilts and 5.21 million garments had been sent to the quake-hit region, the ministry said.

About 410,000 tonnes of fuel and 880,000 tonnes of coal were also sent to the region, it said.

More than 97 percent of banks in quake-affected areas had reopened. A total of 348 bank outlets still closed.

Financial institutions across the country had sent loans worth more than 9.5 billion yuan (1.34 billion U.S. dollars) to Sichuan to assist disaster relief and reconstruction work. More than 550 million yuan (78.6 million U.S. dollars) of loans had been diverted to other quake-affected areas such as Gansu, Shaanxi and Chongqing.

About 96 percent of households in quake-stricken areas in Sichuan had their electricity restored, according to the Sichuan Electric Power Corporation. Electricity in Hongyuan County in western Sichuan had been restored, but Beichuan Country, one of the worst hit areas, still suffered blackouts.

Source: Xinhua


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