The Ministry of Finance announced on Wednesday that it allocated another 660 million yuan (94.83 million U.S. dollars) in relief funds to quake-stricken localities.

This new funding includes 500 million yuan in living subsidies for survivors in hardest-hit Sichuan Province, 60 million yuan in similar subsidies for those in Shaanxi Province and 100 million yuan in emergency water supply funds for Sichuan, Gansu, Chongqing, Shaanxi and Yunnan.

As of 2 p.m. on Wednesday, China had appropriated 12.867 billion yuan in relief funds for quake-ravaged areas, including 9.339 billion yuan from the central government budget and 3.528 billion yuan from local government budgets.

(Xinhua News Agency May 21, 2008)