Sichuan publishes first list of quake victims

By Li Xinran  |   2008-11-21  |     ONLINE EDITION

SICHUAN Province has published the names of 19,065 earthquake victims, according to a televised press conference today.

"It is the first batch," said Wei Hong, Sichuan's executive governor.

It is a very complicated problem to publish the death toll as some people were killed and some are missing, which means further checks are needed, Wei said.

The basic information of each victim including name, residence and place of death has been verified, according to Wei.

The government will publish more lists in the future, but an accurate death toll figure was still not known, Wei said.

The May 12 earthquake, centered in Sichuan's Wenchuan County, killed nearly 70,000 people. About 18,000 people were reported missing after the worst earthquake to hit China since one devastated Tangshan in 1976.

The provincial government plans to invest 3 trillion yuan (US$439 billion) by 2010 to restore Sichuan's economy after the earthquake, which flattened countless towns and villages.

The central government planned to allocate 200 billion yuan for Sichuan's reconstruction, about one fifth of the total needed, Wei said.

The government planned to raise more funds through bank loans from the capital market and donations to attract private-owned companies to participate in the reconstruction project, Wei said.