The government had taken into consideration of the diet habits and needs in practicing religious service among people from minority ethnic groups in relief work in the quake zone, said an official with the Ministry of Civil Affairs Sunday.

About 80 percent of 6,738 tonnes of quake relief grains from the central reserve was flour and only 20 percent was rice, because local people prefer food made of flour, said the ministry's disaster relief bureau director Zou Ming at a press conference.

Local civil affairs department in Qinghai Province would take into consideration of the minority ethnic groups' special needs when allocating relief materials, he said.

Wednesday's 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck Yushu of Qinghai Province, an area mainly inhabited by Tibetans.

"Now quake-affected people could practice religious activities in all the 14 shelter centers in the worst-hit Gyegu Town and its surrounding areas in Yushu," Zou said.

The quake left 1,484 dead and 312 still missing, and about 100,000 people were relocated.