As of Monday noon, China had received donations worth 41.74 billion yuan (5.96 billion U.S. dollars) in cash or materials for earthquake relief from domestic and overseas donors, according to the Information Office of the State Council.

Of the donations, 37.72 billion yuan in cash or materials had reached the bank accounts of charity foundations or government departments, while 11.53 billion yuan of cash or materials had been distributed to earthquake areas.

The figures were disclosed Monday afternoon by Lu Guangjin, deputy head of the Press Department of the Information Office of the State Council, at a regular press conference on the progress of relief for the May 12 earthquake that has killed 69,019 people in China.

Governments at different levels had allocated 23.3 billion yuan worth of relief funds, including 18.68 billion yuan from the central government, according to the official.

Meanwhile, 712,900 tents, 4.41 million quilts, 11.54 million pieces of clothes, 650,000 tonnes of fuel and 1.35 million tonnes of coal had been transported to the affected areas.

The official said that as of Sunday, relief workers had built up 11,500 makeshift houses for the homeless people, while another 8,300 were being installed and the components of 36,800 makeshift houses had arrived in the affected areas.

As of 16:00 a.m. Sunday, the Ministry of Commerce had distributed 252 mobile retail booths to the affected areas, while delivering 805 tents to be used as shops. Of the shopping tents, 176 had been put into use.

By Monday morning, 98.8 percent of bank outlets in the earthquake areas had returned to normal operation, while 159 remained closed.

(Xinhua News Agency June 2, 2008)