China earmarks 80m yuan for Xizang quake relief, recovery efforts

BEIJING -- China has allocated 50 million yuan (about $7.5 million) in emergency disaster relief funds and earmarked another 30 million yuan for recovery efforts following a 7.0-magnitude earthquake in Southwest China's Xizang autonomous region.

The earthquake struck Drachen county of the city of Nagchu at 10:33 pm on Thursday, leaving 16 people dead and 65 injured.

The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Emergency Management jointly allocated 50 million yuan to support rescue operations and assistance to affected residents, while the National Development and Reform Commission earmarked the additional 30 million yuan from the central budget to help restore damaged infrastructure and public service facilities.

The country has also upgraded its national earthquake emergency response from Level IV to Level III, while activating a separate Level IV national natural disaster relief response.

China's national comprehensive fire and rescue force has dispatched a total of 350 rescuers and 83 vehicles for rescue operations. The emergency management ministry has guided Xizang's emergency management department in arranging for Wing Loong drone deployment to the quake-hit area for disaster reconnaissance.

As of 6:30 am on Friday, 120 rescuers and 27 vehicles had arrived in the quake-hit area, while the remaining 230 rescuers and 56 vehicles from the Xizang fire and rescue corps were en route as reinforcements, having all entered Nagqu's administrative area.

Earlier, as of 4:30 am on Friday, authorities had mobilized relief supplies at the central, regional, municipal and county levels, and delivered them in batches to the affected area.

These supplies included 1,000 prefabricated housing units, 3,239 tents, 2,821 folding beds and 4,280 quilts, among other essentials.