A Communist Party of China (CPC) senior official has called for priority in strengthening supervision over the management of relief funds and goods in the earthquake areas. This was to ensure all relief funds and goods would be used for the affected areas and people.

At a meeting on Thursday, He Yong, Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee member and CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection deputy head, said it was a long-term and important task as large quantities of government allocations and public donations, in both cash and materials, were being sent to the quake areas.

The meeting heard reports by discipline officials who were sent to the earthquake-hit Sichuan Province to check the activities of relevant central departments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) involved in the collection and distribution of relief goods.

He pledged to punish offenders violating discipline and laws in the management of relief funds and goods, in a strict and timely fashion.

So far, China has received more than 56.5 billion yuan (about 6.64 billion U.S. dollars) of funds and goods for the quake relief effort. The donations have poured in since a powerful 8.0-magnitude quake devastated Wenchuan, Sichuan, in southwest China on May 12.

Of these donations, 45.24 billion yuan has arrived in the accounts of the government and NGOs, and 15.6 billion yuan worth of funds and goods had reached the quake areas.

To date, the quake has left 69,180 people dead, 374,008 injured and 17,398 missing.

(Xinhua News Agency June 21, 2008)