China quake death toll rises to 69,195

Source: Xinhua | 06-30-2008 12:02

BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhua) -- The death toll of China's massive earthquake increased by seven to 69,195 as of Sunday noon, the State Council Information Office said in a statement.

The number of the injured stayed at 374,177 and people reported missing dropped to 18,404 after the 8.0-magnitude quake jolted southwestern Sichuan Province and neighboring regions on May 12.

As of Sunday noon, 96,362 injured people had been hospitalized and 85,211 have recovered and left hospital. There are still 8,513people remaining in hospital, the office said.

The government disaster relief fund had reached 54.72 billion yuan (about 7.82 billion U.S. dollars), including 49.61 billion yuan from the central government and 5.11 billion yuan from the local budget.

Domestic and foreign donations had reached 55 billion yuan in cash and goods, of which 19.6 billion yuan had been forwarded to the quake-hit areas.

About 1.58 million tents, 4.87 million quilts, 14.1 million garments and 1.52 million tons of fuel oil had been sent to the quake-hit areas, it said.

As of Saturday, relief workers had built 372,800 temporary houses and another 25,600 were being installed, while the materials for 47,600 of such shelters had arrived in the affected areas.

In the 24 hours that ended Sunday noon, 125 aftershocks were monitored in the quake zone. One of the tremors measured between 4.0 to 4.9 magnitude on the Richter scale, and the others were at or below 3.9 magnitude, according to the China Earthquake Administration.

A total of 14,595 aftershocks had been detected since May 12.

As of Sunday noon, dangers had been basically removed for 31 out of 34 quake-formed lakes in Sichuan.

Of the 53,295 km of roads damaged in the quake, 52,305 km had been restored, the office said.

Editor:Du Xiaodan