Mainland official: Taiwanese donate 672 mln yuan to aid quake reconstruction by 2008

Special Report:Reconstruction After Earthquake

BEIJING, April 29 (Xinhua) -- People in Taiwan have donated more than
672.21 million yuan (98.5 million U.S. dollars) to aid the reconstruction of the
magnitude-8.0 earthquake-hit zones by the end of 2008, said a Chinese official
here Wednesday.

Li Weiyi, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council,
said at a press conference that the donations, which were made by the people in
Taiwan via the Office and the mainland-based Association for Relations Across
the Taiwan Straits, had all been forwarded to places hit hardest by the quake,
which included Chongqing Municipality and provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi and
Gansu.

About 77 percent of the donations, or more than 517.66 million yuan, would
be used to help with the reconstruction of 92 projects in Sichuan ,where the
epicenter was, he said.

Quake-hit regions have taken measures to ensure rational use of the
donations in reconstruction projects, he added.

The donations have fully displayed the spirit of when disaster struck, help
came from all sides of people across the Taiwan Straits, he said.

A magnitude-8.0 earthquake hit Wenchuan County in southwestern Sichuan
Province on May 12. The quake, the most destructive natural disaster in China
for decades, left more than 87,000 people dead or missing and millions
homeless.