Quake toll climbs by 1

Source: Xinhua  |   2008-6-22  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

THE death toll of China's massive earthquake increased by one to 69,181 as of noon yesterday, the State Council Information Office said.

THE number of the injured raised by two to 374,010 and people reported missing dropped by one to 17,397 after the May 12 quake rocked southwestern Sichuan Province and neighboring regions, said the office in a statement.

By Friday, about 1.45 million quake survivors had been rescued and evacuated.

Relief supplies continue to pour in. As of noon yesterday, about 1.57 million tents, 4.87 million quilts, 14.1 million garments, 1.28 million metric tons of fuel oil and 2.73 million tons of coal had been sent.

THE statement said, as of Friday, relief workers had built 261,000 temporary houses and another 37,700 were being installed, while the materials for 78,200 of such houses had arrived in the affected areas.

As of noon yesterday, the government disaster relief fund had reached 54.31 billion yuan (US$7.87 billion), including 49.6 billion yuan from the central budget and 4.7 billion yuan from the local budget. Domestic and foreign donations had reached 46.74 billion yuan in cash and goods.