2011-01-20 15:26

XINING - China's government plans to spend 20 billion yuan ($3 billion) this year, about four times the amount last year, to accelerate reconstruction of a Northwestern county flattened by a 7.1-magnitude earthquake last year, a senior local official told reporters Thursday.

Luo Huining, governor of Qinghai province, said the money would mainly go to the building of urban homes, public service facilities and infrastructure in the Tibetan autonomous county of Yushu.

By the end of last year, about 5.01 billion yuan had funded 289 recovery projects in Yushu. Workers had completed settlements for herdsmen and repaired damaged homes in the town of Gyegu, near the epicenter, Luo said.

A 7.1-magnitude quake struck Yushu on April 14, killing more than 2,200 people, and leaving more than 100,000 homeless. The government has pledged that reconstruction will take less than three years. The homeless are temporarily housed in tents and prefab homes.