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BEIJING, China (CNN) — Chinese government officials raised the death toll from last week’s earthquake past 155,000, as calls were sent out for more material to help the massive recovery effort.

The death toll from the devastating earthquake in southwestern China was raised to 155,740, government officials reported on Friday.

Video: See how a policewoman is praised for breast-feeding surviving babies.

The 7.9-magnitude quake injured 292,481 people, with another 24,960 missing, authorities said.

As of midday Thursday, domestic and international donations to China’s earthquake zone had reached $13 billion, or 92.4 billion yuan, according to State Council officials.

So far, $873 million has been forwarded to the earthquake-affected areas, the office said.

In the midst of the devastation caused by last week’s quake, China’s central government has announced it will allocate $10 billion to the country’s reconstruction fund, according to state media.

To free up the funding, Premier Wen Jiabao said government spending will be cut by five percent this year, China’s Xinhua news agency reported.

Beijing will also allocate $3.6 billion for rescue and relief efforts in quake-hit regions.

China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development called on local authorities to build a million temporary homes by early August to accommodate many of the five million Chinese left homeless by the earthquake, according to Xinhua.

It also suggested that local authorities build one elementary school, one clinic and one retail store for every 1,000 temporary homes, and one middle school for every 2,000.

“We need more than 3.3 million tents,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters, according to The Associated Press, adding that 400,000 tents have already been delivered.

Read more:
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/22/china.earthquake/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/05/myanmar.cyclone/index.html

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Date:  Sat, 24 May 2008 03:38:08 +0530
From:  CNN News Department <news@cnn.com>
Subject:  Breaking News – China quake death toll soars past 155,000