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China banking industry mobilized to help quake-hit Yushu

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-04-23 17:33

BEIJING - Banks and other financial institutions will guarantee the necessary financial support for quake relief efforts in Yushu, northwest China's Qinghai Province, China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) said here Friday.

All banks and financial institutions across the country have donated or opened green channels to offer expedite services for clients who have made earthquake donations through the banks, the CBRC said in a statement posted on its website.

The CBRC has raised about 3.2 million yuan (US$464,000) in donations among its employees for quake victims while banks and financial institutions in Qinghai alone have donated 19.7 million yuan (US$2.88 million) in cash and 1.81 million yuan (US$265,000) in relief materials to the quake region.

The CBRC said financial services in the quake-hit region had basically been restored one week after the tremor.

"Strong financial support for relief and post-quake reconstruction efforts were in place," said the statement.

According to the CBRC, eight outlets of the Agricultural Bank of China, the country's fourth largest lender, have all resumed business in their original sites in Yushu County, the epicenter of the earthquake.

Postal Savings Bank of China re-opened five of its eight original business outlets in the county while three other outlets restarted business on mobile vehicles.

The Yushu Rural Credit Cooperatives, a local financial institution with six business outlets there, had resumed business in a makeshift tent to serve local clients.

The devastating 7.1-magnitude earthquake in Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yushu has left 2,187 people dead and 80 others missing. Among the 12,135 injured people, 1,434 were in serious condition.